Don’t miss your opportunity to join the ADRA Connections team and learn how to build the ecological, smoke-free stoves that will help save lives.

Many families who live in the Peruvian highlands cook on stoves or fireplaces that have no chimney. With no way to vent to the outdoors, the smoke fills the home and is breathed into the lungs of the whole family resulting in pneumonia, COPD, and asthma, particularly among babies, teenagers and the elderly. (The amount of smoke exposure babies get from the open stoves is comparable to the amount they would get from smoking 3-5 cigarettes a day!)

Other consequences of inhaling the harmful particles include vision impairment, low infant birth weight, and burns and other injuries, especially among children. There is also a link between prenatal maternal exposure to wood smoke and poorer performance in markers for IQ among school-aged children. This leads to societal costs, such as negative impacts on an individual’s future lifetime earnings and educational attainment.

..reducing household wood smoke exposure is a public health intervention that is likely on a par with vaccinations and nutrition supplements for reducing severe pneumonia, and is worth investing in”.

Kirk Smith, professor of global environmental health at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health.

The application deadline for this interesting and worthwhile trip is Feb. 6, so apply today to reserve your spot!