As in many cultures, in Gujarat, women and girls are responsible for taking care of cooking, sanitation, hygiene and health needs of the household. Smoke from chulha’s is a major factor in respiratory illness and maternal health.
Setco Foundation has partnered with BlueLab team from University of Michigan to build smokeless stoves in order to curtail the incidences of respiratory problems. The building of smokeless stoves also provides the women with livelihood alternatives as the women from community are trained on building the stoves.
BENEFITS OF SMOKELESS STOVE
- The use of smokeless stove saves the time of the consumer.
- The wood that is used while cooking in a smokeless stove gets completely utilized if cut into small Apieces. This has ecological benefits as fuel (wood) does not get wasted.
- The use of smokeless stove helps ward off several respiratory diseases.
- There is no smoke emission from the smokeless stove which wards off illnesses.
- Stove can be built from local sand and cow dung.
- Stoves are built by the community volunteers which make it more sustainable.
