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WHO and UNDP highligh indoor smoke as the killer in the kitchen

Boiling Point
Front cover of Boiling Point issue 50
Issue 50 (2005) Scaling up and commercialisation of household energy initiatives
ArticleWHO and UNDP highligh indoor smoke as the killer in the kitchen
AuthorMarc Lopatin


It’s not every day that Indoor Air Pollution makes global headlines. But on Friday 15 October 2004 – World Rural Women’s Day – the UNDP and the World Health Organisation took the unprecedented step of issuing a joint statement calling for world to wake up to this ‘silent killer’ (1).

The boldly worded statement described ‘how thick acrid smoke rising from stoves and fires inside homes is associated with around 1.6 million deaths per year in developing countries – that’s one life lost every 20 seconds
to the killer in the kitchen’.
Figure 1: News compilation
Figure 1: News compilation

The news was picked up by Reuters and Associated Press and was reproduced around the world. Online newspapers across continents including the Washington Times and the China Daily carried the story alongside the
Financial Times. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) reacted to the news by issuing
a supporting statement of its own.

During the course of the day, the WHO was interviewed by the BBC World Service and United Nations radio. Meanwhile, global news channel BBC World devoted an entire edition of its flagship daily news show, Asia Today, to discuss IAP with the Shell Foundation, an Indian entrepreneur and the UNDP.

Indoor air pollution toolkit

For the past four years, the Shell Foundation has been running Breathing Space – a $10m investment to promote solutions for reducing IAP that can be scaled up to reach the two billion people we know are at risk. Breathing Space will shortly enter a scale-up phase for successful pilot programmes and the Shell Foundation will be summarising and disseminating its approach through a commercialisation toolkit. It will be designed to provide a framework for the development of demand driven, financially viable models for delivering improved household energy solutions.

The toolkit is being compiled in India by Accenture Development Partnerships – a charitable organisation that brings business, technology and management skills to the developing world. On completion, it will help to better understand the market and its size; understand consumer behaviour; decide who produces and provides products and services and how they are distributed; and identify potential sources of local financing for businesses.

Commenting on the toolkit, Karen Westley, Shell Foundation programme manager, said: ‘It’s part of our overall aim of infusing development thinking with ‘business DNA’ to ensure solutions are both financially sustainable and scalable. In
terms of IAP, our ultimate goal is to export the final methodology to other parts of India as well as Asia and Africa, where IAP remains a major health hazard.’


Commenting on the day’s success Eva Rehfuesse, who led the awareness raising initiative from the WHO’s headquarters in Geneva, said: ‘The combined action by the WHO and UNDP highlighted the magnitude of the indoor smoke problem and the plight of those most affected: rural women and their children. It was a day to demonstrate not just the issue but also the solutions being worked on by readers of Boiling Point all over the world. In a few years’ time, the WHO is planning to present lessons learnt to governments based on innovative local and national projects’.

The sentiment was shared by Karen Westley, programme manager of Breathing Space™ at the Shell Foundation – a $10m commitment to scaling up sustainable solutions to IAP in six countries. ‘The October 15th publicity drive is great news for the Partnership for Clean Indoor Air. It’s great to see the partnership’s biggest members front up the issue before a mainstream media audience around the world. We face a tough challenge bringing attention to our cause in some parts of the world but at least now we have some something to build on.’

Household Energy Monitoring and Evaluation Consortium

The Shell Foundation and The Center for Entrepreneurship in International Health and Development (CEIHD) invite you to join the Household Energy Monitoring and Evaluation Consortium in 2005. A cross-section of NGOs, researchers, policymakers and funding agencies will be participating in this new forum to share knowledge and technologies for assessing household energy solutions. The consortium’s activities will include:
  • Distributing high-quality equipment including the new UCB particle monitor
  • Training for indoor air pollution monitoring and stove performance
  • Developing a network of regional providers offering on-site assistance with monitoring and evaluation activities
  • Convening an annual meeting where participants can discuss shared performance indicators and standardized metrics
  • Offering funds and support to research institutions to improve existing or invent new monitoring and evaluation tools
  • Creating an accessible, global, electronic library of monitoring and evaluation results from household energy interventions around the world
CEIHD already offers assistance with intervention monitoring and evaluation to NGOs. For more information visit the CEIHD website (4) or contact Dana Charron at dana@... or +1–510–643–6432


Cowan Coventry, ITDG’s chief executive, and Kurt Hoffman, director of the Shell Foundation, issued a statement ask whether there is the political will to match the solutions being implemented across the developing world (2) and (3).

The case for raising the importance of IAP received a second boost just two weeks later. In late October, the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) released its authoritative World Energy Outlook (2004) which again drew attention to solving IAP.
Figure 2: Woman cooking with biomass stove
Figure 2: Woman cooking with biomass stove

In a chapter entitled Energy and Development, the report pointed out that ‘the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals would most likely require a substantial reduction in the use of traditional biomass for cooking and heating’. The IEA estimated that if poverty alleviation targets were to be met, the use of modern cooking and heating fuels would have to be extended to 700 million more people by 2015.

[top] [end]Further information


1. WHO: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2004/statement5/en/
2. Shell Foundation: http://www.shellfoundation.org/latest/151004.html
3. ITDG: http://www.itdg.org/?id=iap_who)
4. CEIHD: http://ceihd.berkeley.edu/

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pdf file link WHO and UNDP highligh indoor smoke as the killer in the kitchen by Marc Lopatin (448 KB)

[top] [end]Contents: Boiling Point 50 - Scaling up and commercialisation of household energy initiatives

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Scaling up - Scaling Up Biogas In Nepal – Ten Top Tips For Successful Scaling Up – Rocket Stoves For Sub-Saharan Africa – Designing Stoves For Mass Production – The Ecostove – Programmes Promoting Improved Household Energy In China – Is Gender A Key Variable In Household Energy And Indoor Air Pollution Interventions – GTZ News BP50 – Strengthening Community Partnerships - Dissemination Of Solar Home Systems In Vietnam – A model For Dissemination Of Improved Biomass Fuels And Cooking Devices – Institutional Partnership In Improved Cooking Stove Dissemination – Project Gaia Commercializing A New Stove And New Fuel In Africa - Public Private Partnerships For Accessing Electricity In Rural Areas - Energy News From Practical Action BP50 - WHO and UNDP highligh indoor smoke as the killer in the kitchen - Whats Happening In Household Energy BP50









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