Stoves

The World Health Organization states that indoor air pollution from solid fuel use is responsible for more than 1.6 million annual deaths and 2.7% of the global burden of diseaseThis makes this risk factor the second biggest environmental contributor to ill health, behind unsafe water and sanitation. Dependence on polluting solid fuels to meet basic energy needs represents one of the biggest threats to childrens health. Acute lower respiratory infections, in particular pneumonia, continue to be the biggest killer of young children and cause more than 2 million annual deaths. This toll almost exclusively falls on children in developing countries.

 Approximately 2.4 billion people over one-third of all humanity and two-thirds of the developing world cook over biomass-fueled fires. Common biomass fuels include wood, charcoal, dung and crop residues. And though the percentage of the population that cooks with these fuels is expected to go down over time, the total numbers are expected to rise by as many as 200 million people over the next quarter century. Not only is this environmentally unsustainable at the global level, but the health ramifications are devastating at the community and family levels.

 Typically, in rural Panama, people use 3 rocks to support their cooking pot and feed small sticks into a fire between the rocks. It is common for indigenous folks to use 3 large log to support the pot, gradually scooting them in as they smoulder away. However nostalgic we may be about cooking over a campfire, it is not healthy to do on a daily basis, nor is it very efficient.

 

By demonstrating the construction and use of simple, affordable stoves made of locally available materials, families are able to improve their health and economize their use of resources.