Application of air sensors to support clean cooking initiatives at education centres in low- and middle-income countries using Accra High School, Ghana as a case study.

Miniaturised air sensors (otherwise known as “small sensors”, “low cost sensors” or “lower capital cost sensors”) have been used extensively for air quality campaigns globally primarily as pilot studies. To date, their usefulness for applications to generate robust evidence for social intervention programmes, especially in geographies with poor environmental and social policies (such as those encountered in many parts of the global south), is limited. This study focused on the application of air sensor data to produce evidence to support interventions such as clean cooking initiatives at education centres in low- and middle-income countries using Accra High School located in the city of Accra, Ghana as a case study. We deployed a calibrated Airnote PM2.5 air sensor at Accra High School from June 01st to July 23rd, 2023. We employed time series, calendar and diurnal variation analysis to present the reported data. We found that 24-hour PM2.5 pollution was 7 times higher than the World Health Organization Air Quality Guidelines. The calendar plots show that cooking staff, predominantly women, are routinely exposed to unhealthy, very unhealthy or hazardous levels of PM2.5, a species linked to the incidence of asthma, COPD, heart disease, cancers and increasingly poor birth outcomes and dementia. Peak levels (~140 µgm-3) were observed between 06:00 and 18:00 hrs and are linked to cooking activity with charcoal and fuelwood. Hourly PM2.5 concentration ~300 µgm-3 was also periodically observed. These preliminary results were presented to the member of Parliament, Hon Dr Zanetor Agymang-Rawlings in whose jurisdiction the study was collaboratively conducted. Per the recommendations, a clean cooking initiative was launched with the replacement of old cooking appliances. This study illustrates the usefulness and application of air sensors to support clean cooking initiatives in environments with poor energy sources for cooking and heating. This is a directly reproducible approach which is possible to implement across many areas of continental Africa. We recommend the implementation of continuous air quality measurements at and around cooking areas to understand the impacts of newer more efficient cooking appliances on local air quality. We also recommend the use of the data for air pollution and sustainability science education at the Accra High School or in similar settings with air sensor campaigns.