Traditional Stove  Improved Stove |
More than half of the world’s population relies on open fire cooking pits to meet basic energy needs. Indoor cookstoves can result in extremely high levels of indoor air pollution. Indoor air pollution is a phenomenon that kills 1.6 million people yearly on a global level. Improved stove designs have the potential to reduce indoor air pollution exposure; however, evaluations of improved stoves are limited.
Cooking That Kills -
one student's commentary
The goal of this study is to assess the effectiveness of stove interventions.
In January 2013 we will begin a study to evaluate the impact of cleaner burning cookstoves on measures of cardiovascular health (blood pressure and markers of systemic inflammation) in Honduran women who currently cook over an open fire. We will also evaluate the impact of the cookstoves on levels of carbon monoxide and respirable particulate matter (less than 2.5 micrometers in diamber). The study will take place near Copan Ruinas, Honduras. During this two-year project we will be partnering with Stove Team International and Eco-Copan (a local stove manufacturer in Copan Ruinas).
Please help fund this project with an online donation.
This project is a community cookstove intervention in a neighborhood called El Fortin,
just outside of Granada, Nicaragua. The study will address a critical global environmental
health problem by building community partnerships. This project is also contributing to the
education and training of undergraduate and graduate students. Read more
details at Colorado
State University Students Study Health Impacts of Cleaner-Burning Cookstoves in
Nicaragua.
For more information, contact Dr. Jennifer Peel, (970) 491-6391.
2008 Baseline EvaluationThe baseline evaluation of a population using traditional cookstoves was completed during the summer of 2008. The participating families then received the improved wood-burning stoves in August and September 2008.
Students returned to El Fortin in December 2010 to perform exposure and health assessments to determine if the improved stoves had a positive impact on the participant’s overall health. Fundraising efforts are currently underway for future return trips. Please help fund this project with an online donation.
This project is a unique and valuable experience for the students, who use the project as an internship and/or receive research credits for their work. This study aims to involve undergraduate students, in applied and experimental research projects in this important area of global health and clean energy research.
Department Contact Information:
Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences
1681 Campus Delivery
Fort Collins, CO 80523
Phone: (970) 491-7038
Fax: (970) 491-2940
