The present study attempts to establish the association between neighbourhood environmental problems and health of the residents in Azamgarh City. For the purpose of study, different wards of the city are grouped into several neighbourhoods based on income wise dominance in the wards, population density and household density. The study is based on primary source of data collected through questionnaire, interviews from respondents belonging to different neighbourhoods of the city. Neighbourhood physical environmental conditions of each neighbourhood, such as water supply and quality, drainage conditions, water logging conditions, overcrowding, air and noise pollution in each neighbourhood has been examined to find major environmental challenges in the Azamgarh City. The result shows that most common environmental issues in Azamgarh City are accumulation and improper disposal of solid waste, inadequate drainage conditions and water logging, insufficient water supply, poor quality of water, overcrowding, air and noise pollution etc. Further correlation analysis reveals a positive relationship between neighbourhood environmental problem and occurrence of various diseases like malaria, typhoid, jaundice, cholera, dengue, diarrhoea and worm infestation etc.

Unhealthy cooking is one of the major cause of mortality and morbidity and a risk factor for occurrence of tuberculosis among Indian women. India is the TB burden country in the world and accounts for nearly 20 percent of global burden of tuberculosis. The present study establishes the association between unhealthy cooking conditions (use of biomass fuels/chulhas, cooking in multipurpose room, Non-ventilated kitchen, living in kutcha/semi-pucca houses) and prevalence of tuberculosis in women. This study is based on primary sources of data collected through questionnaire interviews from 2101 women respondents belonging to different income categories from Aligarh city. The study examines the socio-economic characteristics, cooking conditions, monitoring of indoor air quality of different types of kitchen locations using different types of fuels. Symptomatic linkages of tuberculosis with type of fuel use, kitchen locations and house type were analysed. The results show that the women using biomass fuels/chulhas cooking in non-ventilated kitchens and multipurpose room, living in kutcha/semi pucca houses were most prone to tuberculosis.

he present study focuses on experimental study of indoor air quality regarding PM_10, PM_2.5, CO, CO₂, NO, NO₂, SO₂ in selected differently used areas. Cooking places (kitchen) at different locations using different types of cooking fuel used and living room were selected for the purpose of the measurements. For the purpose of pollutant monitoring 20 households for each having different types of kitchen using biomass fuels and LPG were selected. The indoor air quality of the living room of those households was also assessed for the purpose of comparison. The indoor environment was measured with handy portable samplers. Experimental results obtained shows that the indoor air quality of households cooking with biomass fuels is worse while the indoor air quality of the households using LPG was also found to be much above the prescribed guidelines especially in multipurpose room and in non-ventilated kitchen and on the other hand the indoor air quality of living room is little better but affected by kitchen emissions. 

In India indoor air pollution is an important cause of mortality and morbidity, especially among the poor and most vulnerable populations. It increases the risk of acute respiratory infections, adverse pregnancy outcomes, prenatal mortality, asthma, otitis media, tuberculosis, cataracts, blindness, tuberculosis etc., but the ill impact of indoor air pollution is directly and more pronounced to respiratory problems and diseases. This paper seeks to identify the risk factors associated to indoor air pollution and examines the linkages between respiratory disease symptoms (cough, phlegm, breathlessness, wheezing, blood in sputum etc.) and house type (kutcha/semi pucca houses), type of fuel used (biomass/LPG) and kitchen locations (indoor kitchen with partition, indoor kitchen without partition, multipurpose room, open air) in different income households of Aligarh city. In this study 2,101 women respondents belonging to different income groups were interviewed with the help of well structured questionnaire. Data was collected regarding housing conditions, type of fuel used, place of cooking, type of exposure and occurrence of respiratory diseases. On the basis of collected information risk factors were identified and symptomatic linkages of respiratory diseases and house type, type of fuel used and kitchen locations were established. Analysis has shown that symptomatic cases of respiratory diseases were significantly higher among those living in kutcha/semi-pucca houses, using biomass fuels and cooking in a multi-purpose room.

Asthma is multifactorial disease influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. A rapid increase in asthma in recent years cannot be attributed to changes in heritable factors but the focus of intrusions for the increased occurrence of asthma, therefore, should be on environmental factors. Asthma is extremely low in India’s healthcare facilities especially for the poor. Poor families cannot prevent asthma because of the risk inside their homes. In present study an attempt has been made to find the prevalence of asthma among women inside low income homes. This study is based on primary sources of data collected through questionnaire interviews from 1,200 low income/poor households of Aligarh city located in the Gangetic tract of North India. Since women spend long hours inside their homes and are more involved in household activities like cooking they were chosen as respondents. The study examines the socio-economic conditions, prevalence of asthma on the basis of symptomatic and clinical reporting, identifies the risks inside the homes (establishes the association between risks like cooking conditions (use of biomass fuels/chulhas, cooking in multipurpose room, non-ventilated kitchen), substandard housing (living in kutcha/semi-pucca houses), indoor crowding) and finally monitoring of indoor air pollutants (SPM (PM10, PM2.5) and gaseous pollutants (CO, CO2, SO2, NO, NO2)). The results show that prevalence of asthma among women is greater because they spend long hours inside their home and they are more exposed to indoor air pollutants and the risks inside the homes helps in triggering asthma.

Although indoor air pollution from domestic fuel use in the households is estimated to be one of the main health risks worldwide but there is little knowledge of the actual exposure experienced by large populations. Available indings indicate that indoor air pollution from household cooking and space heating apparently causes considerable ill-health and the majority of households rely on solid biomass fuels (coal or biomass as wood, crop residues, and dung). Present investigation was undertaken to asses the status of indoor air quality of rural and urban households. The study revealed that the use of gas and electricity was more prevalent in urban households while mostly the rural households were found dependent on traditional biomass fuels. The analysis revealed that educational level, occupational status is directly related with the choice of type of domestic fuel. The monitoring of indoor air pollutant revealed that the concentration of pollutants were very much higher during cooking hours as compared to non-cooking hours and the concentration of pollutant emissions from biomass fuel was also very much higher compared to the emissions from LPG. Due to rigorous exposure to these indoor toxic pollutants the rural women were found suffering from instant and short term problems, respiratory infections, adverse pregnancy outcomes, eye related problems and diseases, severe ulcers/cancers etc in higher percentages as compared to urban women who were mostly found using modern fuels for cooking except for the lower income strata.

There is a rising awareness that explanations of causes of health issues that are based on only individual's characteristics are inadequate and unable to capture important factors of diseases. Thus, there is a requirement to study not only individual's characteristics but characteristics of neighbourhoods too, in order to understand the distribution of health and diseases. Neighbourhood disorder can be illustrated by actions in public spaces such as drunk people on the streets, drug dealing, clashes and fighting, people loitering, rowdy groups and gang activity as well as street prostitution. The consistent stress related with living in a neighbourhood where threat, crime, misconduct, trouble and incivility are regular phenomenon, may damage health. Present study is an attempt to examine prevalence of neighbourhood disorder and mental health of the residents in Azamgarh city. The study is based on primary sources of data collected through questionnaire, interviews from respondents belonging to different neighbourhoods in city. Neighbourhood disorder has been measured by resident's perception of prevalence and fear of crime. The most common forms of disorder as reported by residents in city are theft, public drinking, abusing, rowdy groups and street fighting as well as street prostitution with a spatial concentration in low income neighbourhoods of inner city. Residents in these areas have reported incidence of stress and anxiety due to deteriorating environmental condition in their neighbourhood.