US to give Kenya villages safer stoves

By Otieno Owino

The US Government is funding a project aimed at reducing harmful smoke from cooking stoves.

The research that is almost complete is being conducted in Waswa and Kanyilum villages of Nyando District. The project aims to come up with a cooking stove that emits less smoke, consumes less fuel and is more efficient. 

Director of the US Cookstoves Initiative Jacob Moss on Wednesday toured Nyando to sensitise residents on the partnership between the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and Safe Water and Aids Programme (Swap).

“The initiative has used Sh492 million (60 million dollars) to finance businesses that are developing cookstoves,” he said.

He added that they are seeking to establish partnerships with local communities to get feedback and data that will help them improve the development of the cookstoves.

Swap Country Director Alie Eleveld said they are also involved in other initiatives such as assisting women come up income generating activities and child and family health.

In the research, 43 households have been given five different types of stoves, which are evaluated for acceptability, sustainability and impact on indoor air quality.

Healthy cooking

The data collected from the users will be used to arrive at the stove that best meets the health requirements.

The various stoves are already being used in other parts of the world.

Ecochula, Phillips, Ecozoom, Envirofit, RTI and Prakti are new stove technologies that significantly reduce smoke and consume less fuel.

The best stove will then be rolled out to the communities after a health effect assessment has been done at the end of the research early next year.

The Global Alliance for Clean Cook-stoves is an innovative public-private partnership launched by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton  and led by the United Nations Foundation. 

It  aims  at  saving  lives, improve livelihoods and combat climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean  cooking solutions.