A project close to the heart of every student involved in the India Project is the Smokeless Stove Project. In India, indoor air pollution affects over 800 million people, and more than 1 million people die annually from smoke inhalation, which is also the most common cause of respiratory diseases in children under 5 years. Our crèche children are the primary victims of this household danger. 

 

The initiative started in collaboration with the founder of Kids Health India, Ann Peck, with Dartmouth College students, and the International Humanitarian Foundation. Since 2004, India Project students have supported the smokeless stove project in the introduction of an improved cookstove model with a chimney to create a smoke-free living space. 

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The project installs smokeless stoves in poor village homes. Many families in the villages around Kodaikanal use open wood-burning stoves indoors to cook during the day and as a source of heat for the night. 

 

The project provides an income for village potters and labourers. Thus, the benefits of this project spread far beyond the crèche children to all their family members. The first smokeless stoves were installed in the homes of the most needy crèche children, and subsequently in the wider community, improving living conditions for more and more families every year. 

 

For more information, see: http://www.kidshealthindia.com/