Exploring Effects of Household Air Pollution on Pregnant Mothers and Their Offspring in Africa: A Scoping Review

Abstract

In recent decades, air pollution has been the cause of major mortality and morbidity worldwide. WHO attributes about 4.2 million of these to ambient pollution and 3.2 million to household sources. Pregnant women are no exception to those mortalities. Therefore, this review aims to explore and critique existing evidence on the implications of household air pollution in homes among pregnant women. In this review, we adhered to the 2018 PRISMA Scoping Review guidelines. We followed the iterative steps. The time horizon of the literature was 2014-2024. The literature search was conducted on databases such as ProQuest, ScienceDirect, EBSCOhost, and PubMed. Only 19 publications met the inclusion criteria and were critically analyzed using thematic analysis technique. The review yielded two themes: (1) practices that predispose pregnant women to household air pollution and (2) impacts of household air pollution on the health of pregnant women. The study highlighted that socioeconomic status and gender roles play a vital role in exposure to air pollution among pregnant women. Therefore, this review finds it vital for future research to directly examine the impact of socioeconomic factors on air pollution. There is a particular need to develop strategies to mitigate air pollution in the African context. Furthermore, this review recommends that future research also focuses on the long-term biological effects of air pollution among pregnant women.