Researchers working with Ashden Award winners TWP and AHDESA conducted a survey among 79 non-smoking Honduran women cooking with traditional or improved wood-burning cookstoves. They monitored exposure to carbon monoxide and particulate matter over extended periods of time, under normal cooking conditions. They also asked questions about general health and made a number of assessments.

Preliminary analysis shows that women using improved stoves were exposed to 90% less carbon monoxide, and 63% less particulate matter. They reported symptoms of cough, phlegm, wheeze, headache, and shortness of breath less frequently than those using traditional stoves.

Cooking on traditional wood stoves is thought to result in 1.6 million premature deaths each year, around the world. This is one of few studies to show directly the potential for improving both air quality and health by using improved wood-burning stoves. A summary of the findings is available here
and full details will be published in the near future.

For more about TWP and AHDESA’s Ashden Award-winning work click here.