Abstract

Introduction:  Recently,  there  has  been  an  increasing  interest  in  the  health  effects  of  exposure to biomass smoke. Despite significant improvements in child health measures, low birth weight is still a pragmatic issue. We aimed to examine the association between household use of unhygienic fuels for cooking and birth weight.

Data  and  methods:  Using  national  Family  Health  Survey-IV,  this  study  aimed  at  quantifying  the  determinants  of  low  birth  weight  in  India.  Cross-tabulation  and  logistic  regression have been used to carry out this study.

Results: The result found that the availability of separate kitchen and use of hygienic fuel decreases the odds of low birth weight. The result further found that various background characteristics like mother’s age, education, anaemic status, ANC visits, and BMI also have an impact on low birth weight.

Conclusion: After launching Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana to provide the LPG connection to poor families, the government shall now focus on promoting the use of these cylinders.

Keywords

low birth weight, unhygienic cooking fuels, India