changing lives by changing how they cookchanging lives by changing how they cook - household air cleaner

Sometimes a problem can bring both inconvenience and fatal danger.
For example, on a global scale, household air pollution caused by open-air fires and traditional stoves --
These fuels are usually made of wood, animal feces, or coal.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 4 million people die every year from childhood pneumonia, lung cancer and heart disease.
The death toll exceeds the total death toll from malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis.
Of these millions, girls and women tend to be in charge of the kitchen.
Two years ago, Esther Rukaro investigated Kenya's own community's dependence on the stove and decided to take steps on it.
With the help of the Global Alliance for Clean stoves
United Nations Foundation-
Hosted plan supported by the Caterpillar Foundation-
She also received start-up funds to set up a distribution enterprise for clean stoves.
Cleaner fuels, including gas, solar, electricity and biogas, provide health and economic benefits for these stoves.
"These fuels are similar to the ones you and I use in our own homes," said Kip Patrick, global communications director, Global Alliance for Clean stoves.
He noted that by using clean stoves and fuels, the toxins produced by traditional coal-fired stoves were significantly reduced.
This means providing them with a healthier life.
There are also economic benefits of cleaning stoves.
With traditional stoves, a family could spend only 30 to 40% on fuel, says Patrick.
"For people who live on a few dollars a day, the money is a valuable resource that can be used better elsewhere --
For example, send children to school or invest in their own families, "Patrick said.
"The economic and health impact of stoves and fuels does deter a family.
"Rukaro's first loan was small, but it allowed her to buy 50 clean stoves that she had stored in a local warehouse.
It is worth noting that she sold them all in a week.
This is not a deviation;
Rukaro's business was very successful and she quickly became a full-time employee
Time sales agency for a major stove producer in Kenya.
She can support herself and her family now.
Lucano is not alone.
The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves has helped hundreds of women entrepreneurs in the energy sector.
However, the alliance's projects are not just for the benefit of business owners.
They are good for women like Shane, a mother from rural Kenya.
Her traditional stove spews toxic smoke and burns the eyes and lungs of her family.
With the help of the alliance Women's Empowerment Fund project, she also shifted from a traditional ceramic stove to a ceramic stove.
With her new clean stove, Mercy and her family are now breathing cleaner air and she saves about $5 a month in charcoal-it's paying for tuition and food for her kids
Michelle Sullivan, president of the Caterpillar Foundation, said the alliance's great value lies in how it allows women like esther and Mercy to live a more balanced life.
According to Sullivan, women often "have to look for materials that burn in the stove" with a baby tied to their back.
Now they are free to spend their time on other activities. The result?
As Sullivan said, "These women are now breathing cleaner air, going to school instead of walking to get firewood, using the time saved to work and becoming entrepreneurs, change their own society and the whole world.