Food security is sometimes only thought of in terms of the availability of food, but the preparation of food is an important part of ensuring its safety and nutrition. The United Nations Foundation is leading an initiative called the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves to draw attention to the 1.9 million deaths that occur each year in relation to using traditional cookstoves or open pits.
The approximately 3 billion people who use cookstoves are exposed to danger in the form of the often toxic smoke emitted by traditional cooking fuels like wood and charcoal.
Cookstove smoke contributes to a range of chronic illnesses and acute health impacts such as early childhood pneumonia, emphysema, cataracts, lung cancer, bronchitis, cardiovascular disease, and low birth weight. The World Health Organization estimates harmful cookstove smoke to be the fourth worst overall health risk factor in developing countries.
Secondary threats include the dangers for women and girls in gathering wood in conflict areas, environmental damage from smoke emissions
This initiative is still getting off the ground, but its priorities are represented in its “100 by ’20” goal, which aims to have “100 million homes to adopt clean and efficient stoves and fuels by 2020, toward a long-term vision of universal adoption of clean and efficient cooking solutions.”
Posted by Michael Lucivero.
Photo credit: Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves
