Taking Down the Killer in the Kitchen
“Known as the “kitchen killer”, indoor smoke, from cooking accounts for 1.6 million deaths annually and 2.7% of global disease. Throughout the week we will be looking at different designs for improved cookstoves that can help play a role in improving the health in half the people around the world.”
The Problem:
The World Health Organization has found that indoor air pollution from cooking is one of the top ten global health risks.”
More than three billion people worldwide depend on solid fuels, including biomass (wood, dung and agricultural residues) and coal, to meet their most basic energy needs. The inefficient burning of solid fuels on an open fire or traditional stove indoors creates a dangerous cocktail of hundreds of pollutants, primarily carbon monoxide and small particles, but also nitrogen oxides, benzene, butadiene, formaldehyde, polyaromatic hydrocarbons and many other health-damaging chemicals. Day in day out, and for hours at a time, women and their small children breathe in amounts of smoke equivalent to consuming two packs of cigarettes per day.”