Air
Pollution
Household air pollution from solid
fuels caused one in ten deaths in 2016, claiming more than 8,200 lives.
The health effects caused by cooking
with solid fuels include ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease
(stroke), lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Very few households have adopted
improved Cook stoves which are more efficient and cleaner burning. LPG
has the lowest rate of use in the Americas.
Biomass fuels are expensive,
reflecting the scarcity of forested land. A kilogram of charcoal costs nearly
fifty US cents. Thus a household can spend up to a dollar on charcoal per day,
in a nation where the World Bank estimates more than half the population lived
on less than US$1 a day as recently as 2012.
Description of Problem
Household air pollution from solid fuels is the fourth-most serious risk factor in Haiti for death and disability, after child and maternal malnutrition, unsafe sex, and high blood pressure. It caused one in ten deaths in 2016, claiming more than 8,200 lives.Health effects include ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease (stroke), lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among adult women and men, and acute lower respiratory infections among children under five years of age and adult women and men.
The vast majority of Haiti -- 94% of the population – cooks with solid fuels, evenly split between wood and charcoal. Nearly half the population cooks outdoors, more than 1/3rd in a separate building, and 15% in the house. Almost all households using solid fuels cook over an open fire or an open stove.
Very few households have adopted improved cookstoves which are more efficient and cleaner burning. LPG has the lowest rate of use in the Americas.
Biomass fuels are expensive, reflecting the scarcity of forested land. A kilogram of charcoal costs nearly fifty US cents. Thus a household can spend up to a dollar on charcoal per day, in a nation where the World Bank estimates more than half the population lived on less than US$1 a day as recently as 2012
Solutions
- Improved wood stoves: targeting the 48% of the population using wood as primary cooking fuel
- Improved charcoal stoves: targeting the 46% of households using charcoal as primary cooking fuel
- LPG stoves
- Ethanol stoves
