Introduction: In India, majority of the households still use biomass fuel. It is a major cause of death and disability in India.Aims and objectives: To assess determinants of Indoor air pollution and its health hazard awareness among women in semi-urban Mangalore.Methodology: 200 randomly selected households were recruited in two villages of Mangalore. A standard, structured questionnaire was administered after taking informed consent. Descriptive analysis of household area, cooking fuel usage, smoking status was done.Results: Of the participants, mean age was 45.22 with standard deviation of 11.36 years and mean time spent in kitchen in a day was 3.4 hours with standard deviation of 0.80. 64.2% of the houses lack cross ventilation and 72.5% of houses had tiled roofs. 17.9% were using chullah as cooking media and firewood, sawdust as cooking fuel. Regarding hazards of indoor air pollution, over half (50.9%) of women were unaware of it and among those who were aware, only 37.6% knew that indoor air pollution causes respiratory symptoms. Around 57.3% participants replied that their respiratory complaints increased on exposure to smoke. Of those who complain of respiratory symptoms, 49.0% are women. Almost three-fourth (72.5%) houses were tobacco smoke-free.Conclusion: participants’ residence, pattern and fuel use were the probable determinants of exposure to indoor air pollution. Knowledge regarding ill effects of indoor air pollution (IAP) varied among women. The present study is limited to small sample size. Further studies with a large sample size are required to conclude the above findings
