GACC yields 980K for clean cookstove implementation in Kenya, Guatemala, India

The Centers for Disease Control gets in on the GACC action.

Public Health Institute Award to Advance Clean Cookstove Technology

OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 19 (AScribe Newswire) — The Public Health Institute (PHI) received notification it has been awarded a major grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) focused on implementing clean cookstove technology. The $980,000 award will support planning and field work for the next year on cookstoves in Kenya, Guatemala and India, as well as joining the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, the National Institutes of Health and CDC in planning a global clean cookstoves workshop. The award will be administered through PHI’s Center for Public Health and Climate Change, which is working to address the health impacts of climate change.

This grant is one of the first provided by a U.S. Government agency under a new initiative for clean cookstoves announced at the Clinton Global Initiative on September 21 by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Secretary Clinton said that the U.S. government would provide at least $50 million over the next five years toward a global goal to put 100 million fuel-efficient stoves into use worldwide by 2020. To accomplish this, the U.S. government is founding member of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (http://cleancookstoves.org) and will partner with a variety of private sector and government partners.

“We are delighted to implement one of the U.S. government’s first large-scale efforts on clean cookstoves,” said PHI President and CEO Mary Pittman. “This project will allow PHI to help advance public health knowledge and practices around the use of cleaner cookstove technologies around the world and their impact on air quality.”

Researching, evaluating, and distributing efficient and clean-burning cookstoves can help address a wide variety of issues, particularly reducing cardio-pulmonary disease among women and children from exposure to indoor air pollution. It can also help reduce overall levels of carbon emitted by inefficient cooking in developing countries that impact climate change.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has previously indicated that indoor air pollution is one of the 10 most significant public health threats faced worldwide by poorer nations. WHO has also estimated that the consistent inhalation of incompletely burned cooking materials is equivalent to smoking two packages of cigarettes per day. Nearly half of the world’s population – over 3 billion people – use inefficient cookstoves on a daily basis.

“There is no silver bullet when it comes to clean cookstove technology,” said Pittman. “We understand that there remain significant challenges in the design, manufacture, distribution, and measurement of clean burning stoves. But putting fuel efficiency and safe technology in the hands of millions of people is an attainable goal, and PHI is the right organization to work with CDC and the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves on this critical initiative.”

The organization’s Center for Public Health and Climate Change is supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Kresge Foundation to provide a centralized and comprehensive resource supporting the public health community and its partners in understanding and responding to a critical global challenge.

About the Public Health Institute

The Public Health Institute, a California-based nonprofit, has been generating and promoting research, leadership and partnerships to build capacity for strong public health policy, programs, systems and practices for 40 years.

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CONTACT: Mary A. Pittman, DrPH, President & CEO, Public Health Institute, 510-285-5516