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Introduction The contribution of gas cooking to indoor air pollution and health risk is poorly quantified. Although switching to gas cooking could reduce air pollution exposure for those relying on [...]

BACKGROUND: Nationwide household transitions to the use of clean-burning cooking fuels are a promising pathway to reducing under-5 lower respiratory infection (LRI) mortality, the leading cause of child mortality globally, but such transitions are rare and evidence supporting an association between increased clean fuel use and improved health is limited. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the association between increased primary clean cooking fuel use and under-5 LRI mortality in Ecuador between 1990 and 2019. METHODS: We documented cooking fuel use and cause-coded child mortalities at the canton (county) level in Ecuador from 1990 to 2019 (in four periods, 1988-1992, 1999-2003, 2008-2012, and 2015-2019). We characterized the association between clean fuel use and the rate of under-5 LRI mortalities at the canton level using quasi-Poisson generalized linear and generalized additive models, accounting for potential confounding variables that characterize wealth, urbanization, and child health care and vaccination rates, as well as canton and period fixed effects. We estimated averted under-5 LRI mortalities accrued over 30 y by predicting a counterfactual count of canton-period under-5 LRI mortalities were clean fuel use to not have increased and comparing with predicted canton-period under-5 LRI mortalities from our model and observed data. RESULTS: From 1990 to 2019, the proportion of households primarily using a clean cooking fuel increased from 59% to 95%, and under-5 LRI mortality fell from 28 to 7 per 100,000 under-5 population. Canton-level clean fuel use was negatively associated with under-5 LRI mortalities in linear and nonlinear models. The nonlinear association suggested a threshold at approximately 60% clean fuel use, above which there was a negative association. Increases in clean fuel use between 1990 and 2019 were associated with an estimated 7,300 averted under-5 LRI mortalities (95% confidence interval: 2,600, 12,100), accounting for nearly 20% of the declines in under-5 LRI mortality observed in Ecuador over the study period. DISCUSSION: Our findings suggest that the widespread household transition from using biomass to clean-burning fuels for cooking reduced under-5 LRI mortalities in Ecuador over the last 30 y. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP11016, Introduction Lower respiratory infections (LRIs) are the leading cause of death for children under 5 y old (hereafter, 'under-5') globally, with the largest burden of morbidity and mortality occurring in [...]

Moringa oleifera Lam. (MO) seed husk waste was used to remove Pb during batch and filtration processes, from lead-containing water. MO husk biomass was used in its pristine (i.e. unwashed) and prewashed forms. Adsorption was described by the Dubinin-Radushkevich model (qm 3.719 [mg Pb/g MO husk], K = 1.116×10−7 [mol2/J2]). A new developed model (Bulk Balance Filtration Model-BBFM) correlated better to 15-cm bed height continuous experiments (qF = 730.9 [mg/L] and kB = 0.00189 [L·mg−1·min−1] – pristine husk, and qF = 528.7 [mg/L] and kB = 0.001921 [L·mg−1·min−1] – prewashed husk). BBFM and classic models adjusted well to the 30-cm bed data, while the classic models correlated better to the 45-cm bed filter. In general, prewashing was inefficient to improve metal removal and prewashed husk revealed an unfavourable change in its morphology. The adsorption process resembles to be purely physical in accordance to the isotherm parameters and FTIR spectra. SEM-EDS results corroborate the presence of adsorbed lead in MO husks. Pristine MO husk waste exceeded 91% Pb removals, water usage was minimum and no chemicals were added. Pristine MO husk without a prewashing step provides a green, practical and cheap solution to rural communities' households and may serve as a business opportunity for families dedicated to growing and harvesting MO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]