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Exposure to carbon monoxide in rural households in Kintampo-North municipality, Ghana

A thesis submitted to the Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Master of Philosophy Environmental Science

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Main Author: Appiah, Alexander
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: KNUST 2026
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access_status_str Open Access
author Appiah, Alexander
author_browse Appiah, Alexander
author_facet Appiah, Alexander
author_sort Appiah, Alexander
collection Thesis
description A thesis submitted to the Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Master of Philosophy Environmental Science
format Thesis
id oai:ir.knust.edu.gh:123456789/17642
institution KNUST (Ghana)
language English
last_indexed 2026-07-01T04:02:02.642Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from KNUSTSpace — Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology (Ghana)
publishDate 2026
publishDateRange 2026
publishDateSort 2026
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source_str KNUSTSpace — Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology (Ghana)
spelling oai:ir.knust.edu.gh:123456789/17642 Exposure to carbon monoxide in rural households in Kintampo-North municipality, Ghana Appiah, Alexander A thesis submitted to the Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Master of Philosophy Environmental Science Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless, scentless and profoundly poisonous gas, virtually undetectable by an individual during exposure and causes non-specific side effects such as headache or nausea. Accurate estimation of health risks has been hampered by a paucity of quantitative exposure information, with women and children being the main groups exposed to this form of smoke. This study looked at the environmental health risk of exposure to CO from biomass fuel smoke. Carbon monoxide monitoring took place in a total of 60 households purposively selected from Babatokuma, in the Kintampo-North Municipality of Ghana. The cooking technologies studied were the tripod stove of the area, LPG stoves, and a modified version of the tripod stove. Measurements were made on a minute basis using Aeroqual Series 500 (S500) gas monitor. It was discovered that CO concentrations produced during the use of the tripod stove surpassed background values by a large margin (on average by a factor of around ten to twenty times) with high levels of COHb of 23.44 % compared to 7.13 % of the cohort group (LPG). With regards to the improved tripod stove, an independent test revealed that, despite a reduction in CO concentration (of 47.91- 26.703 ppm), the rate of impact is not significant (p = 0.208). The study further revealed that, an increase in the number of windows, significantly reduced CO concentration (r = -0.666, p-value < 0.001). The study results further revealed that, almost all the study population showed mild symptoms from CO exposure, with only few within the moderate zone. LPG users showed no symptoms. Chronic exposure could further worsen the situation, therefore, the improved stove should be constructed by the Municipality as fast as possible to help salvage the situation. KNUST 2026-03-10T12:28:12Z 2026-03-10T12:28:12Z 2018-12 Thesis https://ir.knust.edu.gh/handle/123456789/17642 en application/pdf KNUST
spellingShingle Appiah, Alexander
Exposure to carbon monoxide in rural households in Kintampo-North municipality, Ghana
title Exposure to carbon monoxide in rural households in Kintampo-North municipality, Ghana
title_full Exposure to carbon monoxide in rural households in Kintampo-North municipality, Ghana
title_fullStr Exposure to carbon monoxide in rural households in Kintampo-North municipality, Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Exposure to carbon monoxide in rural households in Kintampo-North municipality, Ghana
title_short Exposure to carbon monoxide in rural households in Kintampo-North municipality, Ghana
title_sort exposure to carbon monoxide in rural households in kintampo north municipality ghana
url https://ir.knust.edu.gh/handle/123456789/17642
work_keys_str_mv AT appiahalexander exposuretocarbonmonoxideinruralhouseholdsinkintamponorthmunicipalityghana