Khadka a resident of Basamari village of Nawalparasis District, says that she knows it's not healthy with so much smoke inside the kitchen but there is no other option and what alternative do they have but to use whatever is available and affordable? KATHMANDU, 5 September 2008 (IRIN) - Sitadevi Khadka, 60, spends hours in her smoke-filled kitchen cooking for her family, rubbing her eyes and coughing uncontrollably.
Living in the remote Basamari village of Nawalparasis District, 200km west of the capital, Kathmandu, Khadka is too poor to buy a kerosene or gas stove, leaving her, like many others, dependent on wood from the nearby forest or animal dung and vegetable wastes for household energy needs.
An estimated 7,500 people in Nepal die annually as a result. Of these, 4,820 children under-five die from ARI and 2,680 adults die of COPD, the report said.
"Nepal's indoor pollution is much worse than its outdoor pollution, so one can only imagine the dangerous impact on the household members' health," Gopal Joshi, programme coordinator of Clean Energy Nepal (CEN), an NGO, told IRIN.
More than 80 percent of Nepalese live in rural areas, and fuel choice is dictated by socio-economic status, according to NGOs. Up to 85 percent of Nepal's total energy needs are met by traditional biomass fuels, according to Winrock International Nepal, an NGO working on developing clean energy, forestry and agriculture.
According to its report, Household Energy, Indoor Air Pollution and Health Impacts, combustion in most stoves is faulty and results in high emissions, which, combined with poor ventilation, means very high levels of pollution.
Specialists worry about the health of women and children who are at higher risk from indoor air pollutants. Women in rural areas spend more five hours within 2m of the cooking stove.
Chronic bronchitis and chronic obstructive lung disease are fairly prevalent among women in villages, according to Winrock.
The emission of damaging pollutants such as carbon monoxide, benzene, potassium and methyl chloride — which affect lungs, reducing resistance to infection and increasing the risk of cancer —are higher than national and international standards, said environmentalists.
Meanwhile, chronic fuel shortages and rising fuel prices are pushing more and more impoverished families into using biomass fuel and placing themselves and their children at greater risk, claim specialists.
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