Deforestation, biomass use and health outcomes in Uganda

Rural households in developing countries rely heavily on biomass fuels to provide energy for cooking. While biomass supplies have traditionally been sourced from proximate forests, rapid population growth and high rates of deforestation and degradation are changing the quantity, type and source of fuels households use. We use data from a panel household survey in Uganda to examine the influence of rapid land use change on fuel use. We then explore the effect of biomass fuels of different types and from different sources on the incidence of acute respiratory infection (ARI) for a sample of 1100 women and children. We find that rapid land use change is altering the characteristics of fuel use portfolios. We observe marked differences in how households are responding to land use change across income groups. We estimate a series of probit regression models to understand the influence of biomass fuel portfolios on health outcomes, including models that take into account the joint determination of health outcomes and fuel choices. We find a negative association between fuel harvested from forests and ARI, and a positive association between fuel harvested from non-forest areas and ARI. Our findings have implications for targeting supply side interventions that mitigate the influence of land use change on fuel supplies.