Definition
For women in households where electricity or gas was not used for fuel, COOKHOW (HV239) indicates whether food was cooked on an open heat source (such as an open hire or open stove) or on a closed heat source (such as a closed stove with chimney).
Cooking over an open fire produces indoor air pollution associated with lung diseases such as asthma, pneumonia, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
The degree of detail in responses varies across surveys; see Comparability.
The information in COOKHOW is taken from the household record and applies to regular household residents, not temporary visitors. Researchers may wish to exclude visitors using the RESIDENT variable (with visitors coded "2") when women, children, or births are the unit of analysis, and using the HHRESIDENT variable when household members are the unit of analysis.