Does Biomass Fuel Use for Cooking Affect Early Childhood Development? A Case Study of Kiribati

ABSTRACT Early childhood development sets the starting point for future health, learning, and wellbeing; hence, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognise the importance of early childhood development in the global agenda. Therefore, we present evidence of the possible influence of prolonged biomass use for cooking on early childhood development at the household level using data from MICS 2018–19 for Kiribati. Results indicate a clear negative relationship between household exposure to biomass fuel usage and physical and cognitive childhood development indicators. In addition to this, respiratory diseases were significantly higher among the children of the household using biomass fuel, which points to the extent of the serious threat that biomass fuel usage poses to childhood development. These findings have important policy implications for promoting early childhood development in Kiribati, where the use of biomass for cooking is prevalent. The study recommends scaling up the use of clean cooking fuels in the region. For this, the government may consider prioritising the phase‐wise introduction of affordable and cleaner fuel alternatives for low‐income households primarily using biomass fuel. This will help protect vulnerable populations, particularly children, from adverse health effects of biomass fuel.