ArticleFrontiers in public health2026
Aesthetics over health: stakeholder perceptions of residential window design, indoor ventilation, disease risk, and energy use in urban Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: a mixed-methods study.
Article in Frontiers in public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Residential window design is a primary determinant of natural ventilation in urban housing; however, the factors driving window design choices in rapidly urbanizing sub-Saharan African cities remain poorly understood. In Dar es Salaam Tanzania, sliding aluminum windows have become increasingly dominant in the residential housing market, yet evidence on how stakeholder perceptions of these designs relate to indoor ventilation adequacy, disease risk, and household energy use remains scarce. Method: This mixed-methods study was conducted in Dar es Salaam Tanzania, between July and October 2025. A structured questionnaire was administered to 611 participants (496 household respondents and 115 hardware store vendors), followed by two focus group discussions with housing stakeholders. Descriptive statistics (frequencies and proportions) summarized participant and household characteristics. Associations between window designs and self-reported diseases and use of artificial cooling systems were examined using chi-square tests and logistic regression, with statistical significance set at a Results: Sliding aluminum windows dominated the market (57% of sales) and household installations (47%), driven primarily by aesthetic considerations (46%). Awareness of ventilation guidelines was low across all stakeholder groups (18%). Limited airflow was significantly associated with greater reliance on mechanical fans (χ Conclusion: Market dynamics and structural constraints shape window design choices in urban Dar es Salaam more than health-oriented performance standards. Bringing public health ideas into housing rules, creating better ventilation guidelines for specific areas, and raising community awareness could improve indoor air quality and reduce reliance on energy-intensive solutions in rapidly growing cities.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.