**7. Indoor air and housing quality**

Indoor air is defined as the air within an indoor environment, coupled with the quality of housing that remains as major players in ascertaining the wellness and healthy living of occupants. However, the influence of one in ascertaining the state of the other cannot be overemphasized. Housing is said to be of diminished quality, if it does not have basic facilities, infrastructure and services such as adequate space, ventilation, waste collection and disposal facility, sanitation, electricity, water supply and general environmental quality [23, 24], which are important agents that impair the air quality in an indoor environment. A number of factors that include the origination of indoor pollutants such as human activities, building materials and carpets; and pollutants penetration from outdoor environments by forced ventilation, diffusion or infiltration, have been said to dictate the inevitability of human exposure to air


**Table 2.** Range of values of indoor air quality in the kitchen and living rooms of selected households in the slum squatter settlements of Warri, and the WHO regulatory limits.

pollutants, considering the amount of time stayed indoor [25]. However, Ana et al. reported that the influence of such pollution on human health may vary, depending on age, sex, nutritional status, physiological conditions, and individual predisposition to the pollutants in question [26]. A study conducted by Rim-Rukeh in a slum squatter inundated area of Warri, Nigeria, reported the measured levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO<sup>2</sup> ), carbon monoxide (CO) and suspended particulate matter (SPM10) in all sampled households to be above the WHO air quality regulatory limits (**Table 2**) [27]. His report suggests that air quality index (AQI) in areas with poor housing settings such as slums, could be described as unhealthy for active children, women, adults and people with respiratory disease such as asthma, as it is usually associated with poor air quality. This therefore further suggests that impairing air quality in housing setting has an inverse relationship with the housing quality, and thus a negative impact on the health and wellness of its occupant.
