Smoke from solid fuel stoves and 'three-stone' fires causes pneumonia and other serious health problems in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa. Women and young children who spend long periods in the kitchen are particularly badly affected. What can be done to improve their quality of life? Will solutions really work in the long term? The Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG), together with Liverpool University and the University of Nairobi, worked with local communities in the Kajiado region south of Nairobi and in Western Kenya to address the problem.

About 80 per cent of people living in rural sub-Saharan Africa use wood, dung and crops as fuel for cooking. Air pollution in homes in the Kajiado region of Kenya is 100 times the level considered acceptable by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Poorly ventilated kitchens can increase the risk of contracting pneumonia and chronic lung disease.

The project involves local people at every stage to ensure it meets their needs. This also means that any problems can be identified and dealt with straight away. There is extreme poverty in Kajiado, so the project’s services are free or in exchange for the skilled labour of the local men. In West Kenya the households contribute to half the costs.

First of all, project workers tell local people about the risks linked with indoor air pollution. They provide larger windows, space under the eaves for ventilation, hoods over the stoves and, in some cases, new stoves, to improve air quality. The project produces better working and living conditions for women and small children.

The benefits of the project are far-reaching. These include:

• reduced workload as there is less soot on walls and clothes and better internal light
• improved health - headaches, coughs, dizzy spells, chest pains, streaming eyes and running noses are less common
• fewer mosquitoes due to fresh air circulation and mesh across windows
• increased safety - hoods prevent children and animals falling into the fire
• financial gain - women can earn money by doing sewing and beadwork indoors and they save money as they no longer need to light kerosene lamps during the day
• better school grades for the children because they can study indoors.

The methodology for the project is now being used in DFID-funded work in urban Kenya, a high, cold region of Nepal, and a community of displaced people in Sudan. Given the success of the project, there is a need to:

• push for similar schemes elsewhere
• increase awareness of the problems by forming village committees on environmental health
• run workshops to train local workers in the skills necessary for reducing indoor air pollution.

Source(s):
‘Reducing indoor air pollution in rural households in Kenya: working with communities to find solutions’, ITDG project, by E. Bates, A. Doig, S. Gitonga and N. Bruce, 2001

Funded by: Glaxo-Wellcome; EMC; The Veta Bailey Charitable Trust and The Ajahma Trust

id21 Research Highlight: 4 December 2002

Further Information:
Liz Bates
ITDG
Schumacher Centre for Technology and Development
Bourton on Dunsmore
Warwickshire CV23 9QZ
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 1788 661100
Fax: +44 (0) 1788 661101
Contact the contributor: lizb@itdg.org.uk

Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG), UK

ITDG East Africa
PO Box 39493
Nairobi
Kenya

Tel: +254 2 719313
Fax: +254 2 710083
Contact the contributor: itkenya@itdg.org.ke

The University of Liverpool, UK

Other related links:
See id21's collection of links relevant to environmental health.

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