A cross-sectional study of household biomass fuel use among a periurban population in Malawi.

Rationale: The Global Burden of Disease Study suggests almost 3.5 million people die as a consequence of household air pollution every year. Respiratory diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and pneumonia in children are strongly associated with exposure to household air pollution. Smoke from burning biomass fuels for cooking, heating, and lighting is the main contributor to high household air pollution levels in low-income countries like Malawi. A greater understanding of biomass fuel use in Malawi should enable us to address household air pollution–associated communicable and noncommunicable diseases more effectively.Objectives: To conduct a cross-sectional analysis of biomass fuel use and population demographics among adults in Blantyre, Malawi.Methods: We used global positioning system–enabled personal digital assistants to collect data on location, age, sex, marital status, education, occupation, and fuel use. We describe these data and explore associations between demographics and...