Optimizing Windows to Improve Ventilation in Dhaka Slums
Yunjae Hwang, Sajjad Rahman,
Laura Kwong, Raiyan Nasir
Fosiul Nizame, Nina Brooks
Designing preferred windows to maximize household ventilation in urban slums in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Objectives
1. Collect baseline data on housing types and finalize window/vent prototypes.
2. Measure the impact of improved ventilation on air exchange rates in Dhaka low income households and characterize the current and potential market for windows/vents in households in low-income neighborhoods of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
3. Understand recipients’ (tenants and landlords) perceived benefits of installed window/vent designs and difficulties faced with adoption of each design.
Rationale
Respiratory diseases are a leading cause of child death globally, killing approximately 1.3 million children per year. In Bangladesh alone, respiratory infections are responsible for approximately 22% of deaths in children under five years of age. Windows/vents may be a promising low-cost strategy for improving child health by increasing ventilation and reducing particulate and infectious matter in households in low-income urban communities, yet little is known about the ventilation improvements from windows/vents. It is unknown how much windows or vents improve ventilation and the value which tenants and/or landlords in Dhaka slums place on these ventilation measures.
Project Dates
November 2016 – March 2020
Stage of Work
So far, we have completed extensive formative research with landlord and tenants in two low-income communities, method development for measuring ventilation, designing ventilation structures, and computational fluid dynamic modeling of airflow given spatial features and temperature differentials.
Up next, in winter 2019-2020, we will collect endline household survey, qualitative, and spillover data.
People
Primary Contact: Laura Kwong
Stanford University
. Stephen Luby, PI
International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B)
Johns Hopkins University
Funding