Photos: Cleaning up the kitchen stove saves lives
Jan 18, 2013
As many as 3 billion people around the world are exposed to high levels of daily air pollution from open cooking fires that burn wood, charcoal, animal dung, or coal. The result can be pneumonia and low birth weight in children, and increased incidence of heart and lung disease in adults. —Kathryn Reid
©2010 Jon Warren/World Vision
Coughing, red and runny eyes are a daily nuisance for women who cook inside over open fires. But their families’ long-term exposure to smoky air can have devastating effects: pneumonia in children and chronic lung disease and lung cancer in adults. Each year 2 million deaths are associated with burning wood and other solid fuels in unventilated kitchens.
©2011 Cecil Laguardia/World Vision
In Laos, 95 percent of the population cooks with solid fuels. That can mean long hours of carrying heavy loads of firewood and a future with fewer trees.
©2012 Victor Martinez/World Vision
"This ecologic stove helps my family to save firewood, and keeps my children in good health because they do not breathe the smoke anymore,” says Susana Gomez, who is teaching her daughter Yeimi to cook a traditional Mexican meal. Improved cooking stoves that use less fuel and reduce indoor smoke are used by 27 percent of people living in developing countries. Compare that to sub-Saharan Africa and other lesser developed countries where only 7 percent have improved cook stoves.
©2011 Le Thiem Xuan/World Vision
Nguyen Thi Loan and her daughter, Le Thi Huong, cook on a biogas stove in their home in Quang Nam province, Vietnam. Fuel for the stove is generated by waste treatment from the family’s pig farm.
©2009 Jon Warren/World Vision
In Ethiopia, Bilile Gurmu uses her solar cooker to prepare beans for dinner. “It saves me time and energy,” she says. “We used to go around looking for firewood. I would look for three or four hours a day. The food now has no smoke. Our clothes don't smell like smoke. We light it anytime we want.”
