The Health and Economic Benefits of Reduced Residential Solid Fuel Burning on the South African Highveld

Emissions from residential solid fuel burning in densely populated low-income settlements is a significant source of air pollution over the South African Highveld. The area is densely populated and highly industrialized, resulting in high concentrations of pollutants over the area. Although emissions from industrial sources are much larger, exposure to household emissions poses the most significant risk to human health. Interventions aimed at reducing solid fuel burning in low-income settlements on the Highveld have the potential to reduce exposure, but quantifying their true impact remains a challenge. We aimed to estimate the health and associated economic benefits of the regional implementation of thermal insulation as intervention measure in low-income settlements to predict the potential impact on the regional scale. We used a land use type regression model to estimate pre-intervention PM2.5 concentrations over the Highveld and then used sampled post-intervention air quality data from a pilot offset programme to relate changes in air quality to changes in avoided premature mortalities. We estimate that the large-scale implementation of this intervention could result in 143 avoided premature mortalities with an estimated economic benefit of just under ZAR (2011) 341.6 million, equivalent to USD (2011) 49.4 million.