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Environmental science and pollution research international
Mar, 2022;29 (14): 20906-20920.

Improving rural women's health in China: cooking with clean energy.

Na Li, Guanglai Zhang, Liguo Zhang, Yingheng Zhou, Ning Zhang
Author Information
  1. Na Li: School of Economics, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang, 330013, China.
  2. Guanglai Zhang: School of Economics, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang, 330013, China. zglai24@126.com. ORCID
  3. Liguo Zhang: School of Economics, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang, 330013, China.
  4. Yingheng Zhou: School of Economics, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang, 330013, China.
  5. Ning Zhang: Institute of Blue and Green Development, Shandong University, Weihai, 264200, China. zn928@naver.com.
PMID: 34743283 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-17380-y

Abstract

It is well known that women bear the greatest burden of health, work time, and labor supply due to gender disparity in many developing countries. In this study, we analyze the health inequality in rural China caused by indoor air pollution from traditional energy use. Specifically, we study the effect of clean energy access on woman health outcome by exploiting a nationwide rollout of clean cooking fuel program in 2014. Based on interviews with rural women in 2014 and 2016, this study analyzes the impact of clean energy use on women's health by using the propensity score matching method with the difference-in-differences model (PSM-DID). We also analyze the heterogeneous health effects of clean energy uptake on rural women with different characteristics. The results show that clean energy applications can significantly improve the health of rural women. The positive health effects are substantial for middle-aged and older women, illiterate women, and those women lived in northeastern China. The results highlight the role of clean energy in reducing gender disparities in health inequality.

Keywords

Clean energy use Cooking fuel PSM-DID Women���s health

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Grants

  1. 71822402/National Natural Science Foundation of China
  2. 71934003/National Natural Science Foundation of China
  3. 72073054/National Natural Science Foundation of China

MeSH Term

Aged
Air Pollution, Indoor
China
Cooking
Energy-Generating Resources
Female
Health Status Disparities
Humans
Middle Aged
Rural Population
Women's Health
Journal Article
Article has an altmetric score of 4

Word Cloud

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