1.9 million people die premature deaths due to exposure of the toxic smoke from their indoor traditional cook-stoves according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Traditional cook-stoves and open fires are the primary means of cooking and heating for nearly three billion people in the developing world. Many of the people who use these cooking practices are indigenous populations. The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves has noted that: “Cookstove smoke contributes to a range of chronic illnesses and acute health impacts such as early childhood pneumonia, emphysema, cataracts, lung cancer, bronchitis, cardiovascular disease, and low birth weight.” The health risks that these populations are exposed to are alarming. The World Health Organization estimates harmful cook-stove smoke to be the fourth worst overall health risk factor in developing countries.
In developing countries, like Guatemala, inefficient traditional stoves require fuel usually in the form of wood. Children usually do the gathering of the wood; this is problematic because they spend many hours collecting wood instead of being in school or studying. Wood gathering seems to be a gendered practice that mostly is left to women and girls. Women and girls also are exposed to severe personal security risks as they forage for fuel from refugee camps and in conflict zones.
 (Image provided by Bryan Willson from The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves) |
Indigenous cooking practices have a deleterious impact on the environment, affect the health of billions of people across the globe, and women and children are the demographics that are affected the most. This is an issue that can be addressed through sustainable development. The U.S. State Department is pledging $50.82 million over the next five years to ensure that the The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves reaches 100 million homes to adopt sustainable stoves and fuels by 2020, with a long-term vision of universal adoption of clean and efficient cooking solutions.
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