Clean cook stoves save lives
07:11, 22 September 2010
.. Posted in Development, Relief and Advocacy Efforts0 trackbacks
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According to the World Health Organization, harmful cooking stove smoke is one of the top four health risks in developing countries (just go to the WHO site and search on the word "stove" for more info).
Three billion people currently lack access to modern energy sources for cooking, causing serious health problems, devastating air quality, using up valuable fossil fuels, and leading to nearly two million deaths. Exposure to smoke from traditional cookstoves and open fires – the primary means of cooking and heating for nearly three billion people in the developing world – causes 1.9 million premature deaths annually, with women and young children the most affected. Cookstove smoke contributes to a range of chronic illnesses and acute health impacts, and gathering fuel increases pressures on local natural resources and personal security risks for women and girls.
Cooking stoves that are designed to produce less emissions and perform with greater fuel efficiency not only address the need for action in climate change, they can dramatically improve the health of the women and children exposed to cookstove pollution each day, and keep girls safe. But such stoves are financially out-of-reach for the people that need them most, and unavailable to many of those who could afford them in developing countries.
The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves "will create a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions." The alliance's goal is to make clean cooking stoves available to 100 million homes by 2020.
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