[13] Poster presentation

[13-5] Interview survey of subjective symptoms of smoke from traditional cooking stoves in Rwanda

*Kazuko Eto¹, Yo Ishigaki², Kenji Tanaka², Takashi Yoda³, Muneo Matsukawa³ (1. Faculty of Nursing, Yokohama Soei University, Japan(Japan), 2. University of Electro-Communications(Japan), 3. Japan Weather Association(Japan))

Presentation language：Japanese

Background: Smoke from traditional cooking stoves using in closed kitchen is acknowledged to cause various health problem. In spite of this knowledge, 94% of families in Republic of Rwanda are still using traditional cooking stoves in their daily cooking. In this research, we show the health awareness of mothers who are using the cooking stoves in Republic of Rwanda.

Methods: Interview survey was conducted for 4 Rwandan mothers who are using the traditional cooking stoves in daily life. The interview were consisted two items; mean time of using cooking stoves (/day), health condition of respiratory organ based on 5 items from IPAG.

Results: 3 participants had subjective symptoms of eye hurting, smoke with eyes, cough and headache. 2 had sore throat, eye itchiness, tears, runny nose and 1 had itch nose and sneeze for each. Additionally, the number of subjective symptoms was increased depending on longer time of using cooking stoves.

Discussion: The results shows most mothers had already had health troubles with their eyes and noses. This suggested that the necessity of health education methods and contents based on their life styles for low standard of education countries.