Biomass Burning Among Small-Scale Fish Processors in Coastal Ghana: Implications For Health And Climate

ABSTRACT

Over six hundred thousand deaths attributable to household air pollution (HAP) occur annually in Africa. On average, women who smoke fish spend six hours daily exposed to hazardous pollutants from biomass fuel. Continued exposure to household air pollution presents a direct health risk to the fish processors, particularly, women and children who are exposed to air pollutants. The main objective of the study was to assess the health and climate implications of biomass consumption by small-scale fish processing in two selected communities along the coast of Ghana. The study was mainly to investigate whether exposure to smoke from fish smoking has any health implications on the women who smoke fish on a daily basis to earn a livelihood. It was to also explore the implications of wood consumption from small-scale fish smoking on the climate. The study was, therefore, designed to comprise of a treatment group and a control group. The treatment group was made up of women who smoke fish and the control group was women in Moree and Elmina towns (in the Central Region of Ghana) who do not smoke fish. Two main quantitative data sets were used. First of all, using a sample size of four hundred and sixty three (463) households, primary data were collected in both Moree and Elmina through a cross-sectional socio-economic and demographic household survey to answer specific research questions on source of fuel, quantity of fuel wood used as well as the frequency of wood consumption. The survey was also intended to help identify the people who are mainly involved in the fish smoking or processing activity, determine the demographic and socio-economic status of the processors, assess health implications which are attributable to smoke inhalation, and how these variables play out in the outcome variables of the study. Secondly, carbon monoxide (CO) monitors and finite particulate matter of 2.5 micro-diameter (PM2.5) samplers were used to collect data on exposure levels of the fish smokers to CO and PM2.5. In all, one hundred and fifty (150) CO and twenty nine (29) PM2.5 real time data were collected from Moree and Elmina to ascertain the exposure levels of the fish processors and the implications thereof for their health. Independent sample t-tests were used to show the mean differences between the control and the treatment groups and other background characteristics of the participants, with regard to experience of flu symptoms, respiratory symptoms, eye symptoms and neurological symptoms. At the multivariate level, multiple linear regressions were used to show the association between the control and treatment groups with respect to flu symptoms, respiratory symptoms, eye symptoms and neurological symptoms controlling for the background characteristics of the participants. Analysis of 24-hour data collected on carbon monoxide and particulate matter (PM2.5) on women in the study area show statistical difference between the control and the treatment groups for both pollutants in terms of personal exposure concentrations. Levels of carbon monoxide and particulate matter were all beyond international permissible standards with PM recording more than three times the levels recorded in similar studies in other developing countries. At the bivariate level, biomass smoke exposure was significantly associated with eye and neurological symptoms. However, there was no statistical difference between the control and treatment groups with respect to flu and respiratory symptoms. Results at the multivariate level show that only eye symptom was statistically significant between the treatment and the control groups.