Household Fuel Choice and Infant Mortality in Rivers State, Nigeria: A Retrospective Cross-sectional Study

Household air pollution primarily from unclean cooking fuel is a public health challenge that has been associated with increased morbidity and mortality among children. Studies have linked mothers’ type of cooking fuel to child mortality. However, there is still a dearth of knowledge on household fuel choice and infant death in Nigeria. This study was designed to examine the association between household cooking fuel choice and infant death in Rivers State, Nigeria. Simple random sampling techniquewas used to select 354 respondents amongwomen attending antenatal clinicsfromSeptember 16, 2019, to October 9, 2019, in two randomly selected zonal hospitals in Rivers State. Copies structured self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data.Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to control for potential confounders of infant death at a 0.05 level of significance. Unclean household cooking fuel usage (COR: 2.43; 95% CI: 1.15, 5.12) wassignificantly associated with infant death at the bivariate model level. In the multivariate model, unclean household cooking fuel usage remains significantly associated with infant death (AOR: 3.81; 95% CI: 1.53, 9.45) even after adjusting for potential confounders. The study showed that women using unclean household cooking fuel are more likely to experience infant death. This calls for increased public awareness of the adverse health effects of polluting cooking fuel usage on young children. This will be effective in reducing preventable infant death. Also, the government and relevant stakeholders should promote interventions and policies that will make clean household cooking fuel more accessible and affordable