Association between household cooking energy sources and under-five mortality: evidence from demographic health survey

Abstract Background The primary objective of this study is to assess the association between household cooking energy sources and under-five mortality. This is significant because it informs public health interventions and policies for clean cooking sources and improved child health. It uses weighte...

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Main Authors: Byrne Kaulu, Eskaya Martha Kapilili, Paul Kaulu, Goodwell Kaulu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2025-03-01
Series:Egyptian Pediatric Association Gazette
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s43054-025-00354-x
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author Byrne Kaulu
Eskaya Martha Kapilili
Paul Kaulu
Goodwell Kaulu
author_facet Byrne Kaulu
Eskaya Martha Kapilili
Paul Kaulu
Goodwell Kaulu
author_sort Byrne Kaulu
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background The primary objective of this study is to assess the association between household cooking energy sources and under-five mortality. This is significant because it informs public health interventions and policies for clean cooking sources and improved child health. It uses weighted logistic regression to assess the association of various cooking energy sources with under-five mortality. The data consists of 38,446 survey responses from the 2018 demographic health survey, Zambia dataset. The dependent variable was measured as a binary outcome with 1 being no under-five mortality has ever occurred in the household and 0 being at least one such mortality has occurred. The regressors were cooking fuel choices, access to health care, mother’s education, wealth index and child spacing. Binary coding was used to measure access to healthcare and child spacing. Mother’s education was categorized into; no education, incomplete primary, complete primary, incomplete secondary, complete secondary, and higher education. The DHS wealth index showed the poorest, poorer, richer, and richest households. All the fuel choices in the DHS dataset were adopted without modification. Results A child in a household using charcoal cooking fuel is at least 1.58 times more likely to experience under-five mortality than one using electricity (OR = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.09—2.29). Neither distance to a health facility (OR = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.84—1.14) nor access to money for health services (OR = 1.057, 95% CI = 0.89—1.26) had significant association with under-five mortality. A child whose mother has secondary education or higher is at least 0.38 times less likely to experience under-five mortality compared to one with no education (OR 0.62, 95% CI = 0.42—0.92). Being from the richest households had lower odds (OR = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.38—0.73) of under-five mortality than being from poorest households. Conclusions Based on the above, we recommend various energy, health and community development policies, practices and scholarly directions. We recommend inter alia; energy transition, subsidies for communities who comply, comprehensive education and investment in health infrastructure. We further note the limitations of the study.
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spelling doaj-art-a9907f87da4b45ea8847b65ee75148b22025-08-20T03:01:38ZengSpringerOpenEgyptian Pediatric Association Gazette2090-99422025-03-0173111010.1186/s43054-025-00354-xAssociation between household cooking energy sources and under-five mortality: evidence from demographic health surveyByrne Kaulu0Eskaya Martha Kapilili1Paul Kaulu2Goodwell Kaulu3University of ZambiaCopperbelt UniversityCopperbelt UniversityUniversity of ZambiaAbstract Background The primary objective of this study is to assess the association between household cooking energy sources and under-five mortality. This is significant because it informs public health interventions and policies for clean cooking sources and improved child health. It uses weighted logistic regression to assess the association of various cooking energy sources with under-five mortality. The data consists of 38,446 survey responses from the 2018 demographic health survey, Zambia dataset. The dependent variable was measured as a binary outcome with 1 being no under-five mortality has ever occurred in the household and 0 being at least one such mortality has occurred. The regressors were cooking fuel choices, access to health care, mother’s education, wealth index and child spacing. Binary coding was used to measure access to healthcare and child spacing. Mother’s education was categorized into; no education, incomplete primary, complete primary, incomplete secondary, complete secondary, and higher education. The DHS wealth index showed the poorest, poorer, richer, and richest households. All the fuel choices in the DHS dataset were adopted without modification. Results A child in a household using charcoal cooking fuel is at least 1.58 times more likely to experience under-five mortality than one using electricity (OR = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.09—2.29). Neither distance to a health facility (OR = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.84—1.14) nor access to money for health services (OR = 1.057, 95% CI = 0.89—1.26) had significant association with under-five mortality. A child whose mother has secondary education or higher is at least 0.38 times less likely to experience under-five mortality compared to one with no education (OR 0.62, 95% CI = 0.42—0.92). Being from the richest households had lower odds (OR = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.38—0.73) of under-five mortality than being from poorest households. Conclusions Based on the above, we recommend various energy, health and community development policies, practices and scholarly directions. We recommend inter alia; energy transition, subsidies for communities who comply, comprehensive education and investment in health infrastructure. We further note the limitations of the study.https://doi.org/10.1186/s43054-025-00354-xLogistic regressionDHSEnergyChild MortalityInfant MortalityZambia
spellingShingle Byrne Kaulu
Eskaya Martha Kapilili
Paul Kaulu
Goodwell Kaulu
Association between household cooking energy sources and under-five mortality: evidence from demographic health survey
Egyptian Pediatric Association Gazette
Logistic regression
DHS
Energy
Child Mortality
Infant Mortality
Zambia
title Association between household cooking energy sources and under-five mortality: evidence from demographic health survey
title_full Association between household cooking energy sources and under-five mortality: evidence from demographic health survey
title_fullStr Association between household cooking energy sources and under-five mortality: evidence from demographic health survey
title_full_unstemmed Association between household cooking energy sources and under-five mortality: evidence from demographic health survey
title_short Association between household cooking energy sources and under-five mortality: evidence from demographic health survey
title_sort association between household cooking energy sources and under five mortality evidence from demographic health survey
topic Logistic regression
DHS
Energy
Child Mortality
Infant Mortality
Zambia
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s43054-025-00354-x
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