HEDON in action with World Health Organization July 1996

Report of 7th meeting. Geneva. July 1996. by Ian Grant

Since its first meeting in 1991 HEDON has been a forum for exchange of information between northern-based workers and organizations engaged in stove and household energy work for the developing world. At its general meeting it took a major step forward with plans for promoting and co-ordinating work within the very important field of reducing smoke pollution and its harmful effects on the health of women and children. Despite the well documented evidence of the serious damage caused, the major agencies and governments have shown little interest when compared with the extensive campaigns against cigarette smoking in Europe and the USA.

The meeting was attended by fifteen HEDON members from nine countries plus seven WHO professional staff members. Dr W. Kreisel, Executive Director Environmental Health Programme, WHO, opened the two-day meeting.

The main focus of the meeting was to agree and plan a programme of work which could be implemented by HEDON through its participating organizations. This would look at all aspects of the smoke health problem; from identification and measurement of sources and causes to possible interventions to alleviate indoor air pollution and reduce health effects. The following activities were agreed as important areas in which practical activities could take place:

· developing a set of criteria for assessing various aspects of household energy work. These would operate on four levels: technical, social, health and political;

· producing a new health criteria document on principles and methods to assess human exposure to biofuels;

· contributing a chapter to the forthcoming World Resources Institute report on Environment and Health;

· developing a framework to understanding more clearly the various ways in which changes impact on household energy patterns

· developing a small set of indicators related to household energy supply and use on a global level e.g. a national census could ask basic questions on types of domestic fuel etc.;

· compiling a document on the 'Healthy Kitchen' approach;

· establishing a list of currently available monitoring equipment, with its merits and faults;

· developing a list of the minimum number of variables required to gauge overall conditions in a community;

· promoting an understanding of the link between household energy and health through journals;

· identifying partners for cooperation to take the work forward, maximising future impact at field level.

A drafting committee, consisting of J. Sims, A. Klingshim and K. Prasad, with K.Smith as a consultant, was appointed to prepare a HEDON project proposal in time for the next meeting.

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Contributors

M Abdelrazig, T Ahmad, G Ballard-Tremeer, N K Bansal, K Banskota, M S Bhandari, BB Gurung, H H Jawurek, B T Luvhimbi, B Pierre, H Polak, K Rijal, M Saleem, G U Sarhandi, P Simonis, P A Sopade, K M Sulpya, P Young.

Illustration on back cover: Matthew Whitton

Contributions to Boiling Point

Contributions are invited for the next two issues of Boiling Point, the themes of which will be:

· BP39: July 1997 Biomass fuels: their use and how different fuels affect technology choice. This edition will include charcoal and briquetting

· BP40: December 1997 Household energy. smoke and health. This edition will be mainly about the effects of smoke on health but contributions on how health can be affected by improved household energy provision would also be very valuable.

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