The Health and Poverty Effects of a Large-scale Cookstove Initiative in Rwanda

Univ Of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project will evaluate the impact of a private sector cookstove and fuel distribution intervention on exposure to airborne pollutants, health and poverty. Inyenyeri, a private social entrepreneurship venture, will provide free cookstoves to over 50,000 households in Western Rwanda and implement a fuel pellet business over the next three years. We will build a randomized control trial 1) to assess the impact of this intervention on exposure to carbon monoxide, particulate matter (PM) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) of the primary household cook, and 2) to model the dose-response relationship between exposure and cardiovascular disease risk. We will conduct exposure monitoring and health assessments six times over two years in 180 households, one-third of which we will randomized out to the control arm. We will conduct a socioeconomic survey in a sample of 1,400 households at baseline, 12 and 24 months to measure consumption, health, time use, and emissions exposure to model the impact of cookstove adoption on time allocation, income generating activities, school enrollment and household poverty.