Aftab Ammar, Noor Amamah, Aslam Memuna
School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Information Technology University, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.
PLOS Glob Public Health. 2022 Sep 21;2(9):e0000949. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0000949. eCollection 2022.
Exposure to poor housing quality and household air pollution (HAP) are significant factors for morbidity and mortality in Pakistan. Children under five are particularly at risk of acute respiratory infections (ARIs). Globally, it has been estimated that 6.6 million children less than five years of age die every year from this disease. Little is known regarding the effect of HAP and poor housing quality on children's respiratory symptoms in Pakistan. Statistics concerning Pakistan's largest province, Punjab, are also not promising. Hence, an association between housing quality and respiratory symptoms among children under the age of five in Punjab has been studied in this paper. Using data from MICS 2017-18, logistic regression models were applied to the sample of 35000 children under the age of five living in poor housing quality. We estimated that acute respiratory infection (ARI) symptoms are higher among children when the floor of a house is made of natural material. However, the lower ARI symptoms were found among children living in a house with a wall made of natural material. On the other hand, we found that children residing in the western region of Punjab are at a higher risk of ARI symptoms. The findings remain consistent with the previous researchers. In addition to promoting increased access to quality housing material during construction activities, we suggest that critical community-based interventions are required to combat local issues and problems at the micro-level.
在巴基斯坦，居住环境质量差和家庭空气污染是导致发病和死亡的重要因素。五岁以下儿童尤其容易患急性呼吸道感染（ARI）。据全球估计，每年有660万五岁以下儿童死于这种疾病。关于家庭空气污染和居住环境质量差对巴基斯坦儿童呼吸道症状的影响，人们了解甚少。关于巴基斯坦最大的省份旁遮普的数据也不容乐观。因此，本文研究了旁遮普五岁以下儿童的居住环境质量与呼吸道症状之间的关联。利用2017 - 18年多指标类集调查（MICS）的数据，对居住在劣质住房中的35000名五岁以下儿童样本应用了逻辑回归模型。我们估计，当房屋地面由天然材料制成时，儿童患急性呼吸道感染（ARI）症状的几率更高。然而，在居住在墙壁由天然材料制成的房屋中的儿童中，ARI症状较低。另一方面，我们发现居住在旁遮普西部地区的儿童患ARI症状的风险更高。这些发现与之前的研究人员一致。除了在建筑活动中促进增加获得优质住房材料的机会外，我们建议需要采取基于社区的关键干预措施来应对微观层面的当地问题。
