The use of solid fuels in households is associated with increased mortality from pneumonia and other acute lower respiratory diseases among children, as well as increased mortality from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cerebrovascular and ischaemic heart diseases, and lung cancer among adults.
Definition:
The percentage of the population that relies on solid fuels as the primary source of domestic energy for cooking and heating.
Disaggregation:
Location (urban/rural)
Method of measurement
The indicator is calculated as the number of people using solid fuels divided by total population, expressed as percentage.
Solid fuel use data are routinely collected at the national and sub national levels in most countries using censuses and surveys. Household surveys used include: United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-supported Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS); United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)-supported Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS); WHO-supported World Health Surveys (WHS); and other reliable and nationally representative country surveys.
M&E Framework:
Outcome
Method of estimation:
The indicator is modelled with household survey data compiled by WHO. The information on cooking fuel use and cooking practices from about 800 nationally representative data sources such as the ones listed above is used.
Unless stated otherwise, solid fuel use (SFU) estimates for the total, urban and rural population for a given year were obtained separately using a multilevel model. The model only accounts for regions, countries and time as a spline function, and SFU estimates were restricted to values ranging from zero to one. More details on the model are published elsewhere (Bonjour et al, EHP, 121(7), 2013). All analyses were conducted using STATA software (version 12, StataCorp LP, College Station, TX, USA).
Estimates for countries with no available surveys were obtained as follows:
- When no solid fuel use information was available for the country, the regional population-weighted mean was used. Note that this approach was aslo applied to Equatorial Guinea instead of the one used for high-income countries (see below).
- Countries classified as high-income with a Gross National Income (GNI) of more than US$ 12,746.- per capita (The World Bank, http://data.worldbank.org/about/country-classifications, accessed July, 2014) are assumed to have made a complete transition to using non-solid fuels as the primary source of domestic energy for cooking and heating, and solid fuel use is reported to be less than 5% (Rehfuess, Mehta & Prüss-Üstün, EHP, 114(3), 2006).
Method of estimation of global and regional aggregates:
Countries are population-weighted to obtain regional aggregates; for countries with no data, the regional mean exposure is assumed; for countries with less than 5% of solid fuel use (SFU), 0% is assumed for the calculation of regional or global means; for countries with more than 95% of SFU, 95% is assumed in the calculation of the mean.
Preferred data sources:
Household surveys
Population census
Expected frequency of data dissemination:
Every 2-3 years
Expected frequency of data collection:
Every 3-5 years
Comments:
There may be discrepancies between internationally reported and nationally reported figures. The reasons are the following:
- Modelled estimates versus survey data point.
- Use of different definitions of solid fuel (wood only or wood and any other biomass, e.g. dung residues).
- Use of different total population estimate
- Estimates are expressed as percentage of population using solid fuels (as per MDG indicator) as compared to percentage of household using solid fuels (as assessed by surveys such as DHS or MICS
- In the estimates presented here, values above 95% solid fuel use are reported as “>95%”, and values below 5% as “<5"
If you have any feedback, you are welcome to write it here.
If you need to access the old Global Health Observatory data, you can do it here. But before you leave, please provide us your feedback about our new data portal.
