Background: We present preliminary findings from the Ethiopian Children Health Study that is being conducted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - modeled after the Southern California Children’s Health Study. The study followed a multi-level design based on primary school-children from ten sub-cities in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) – representing a diverse pollution profile due to variations in levels of traffic-related, industrial and indoor pollution sources. This study is being conducted as part of the Global, Environmental and Occupational Health (GEOHealth) for Eastern Africa.

The health assessment involved lung function measurements among 1086 children aged 9-13 years old from primary schools and questionnaire based ascertainment of information on socio-demographic factors, household characteristics, usual activities, and respiratory health of the children and their families in 969 households. We measured ambient air pollution exposure using PM_2.5 levels at each of the study schools using E-samplers. In addition, household level air pollution are levels are being measured using a combination of fixed and personal monitors at strategically selected sites of 30% of homes of study subjects to enable spatio-temporal modeling for estimation of exposure for all study homes.

Results: The mean age of children was 10 years (SD=1.00) (range 9-13) with male: female ratio of 1:1.2. the majority of mothers’ of children have no education (80%), while 54% of them were employed at the time of data collection. 80% of fathers’ of children had employment. The proportion of reported respiratory illness differed by typology: wheezing-1.1%; asthma-0.2%; allergy-7.3%, coughing- 8%, and bronchitis 0.41%. About 98% homes of children are urban based.

A significant 81% of the homes of children are characterized as shared compound with average number of 1.7 (0.97) rooms. 81% of children share bed rooms with adults. Animals (mainly cat and dogs) are kept in 37% of the homes of children.

The usual type of cooking fuel greatly varied by the purpose of cooking. Charcoal and electricity are the common types of fuel for breakfast (79% of households), lunch (76%) and dinner (85%), while Injera baking involved electricity and wood. The traditional coffee ceremony used charcoal in 78% of households. The index child was reported to be at home while events of cooking takes place in 61-91% of homes. Home heating was reported in 29% of households using charcoal mainly during cooking events. About 50% of study subjects had mobility of living in different sub-cities during their lifetime.

Conclusion: Biomass fuel use is the predominant fuel source for all types of cooking. The home environment does not appear to be supportive of the respiratory health in children.. Future analyses will focus on the direct examination of the impact of air pollution on children’s respiratory health outcomes by using data from both the health assessment and air quality monitoring processes