Randomized evaluations called for by the New York Times

The smokeless chulha project is one of the oldest projects at CMF (jointly implemented by MIT's J-PAL). We are trying to measure the impact of smokeless cooking stoves in one of the poorest states of India.

In India, majority of rural residents cook with biomass fuels, such as wood, agricultural residues, cow dung, or coals which emit tremendous amounts of hazardous smoke in kitchen. Women and childrean bear disproportionate exposure as women are responsible for cooking and the youngest child of the household often spend most of their time on his/her mother's back.

Infectious diseases such as pneumonia caused by indoor air pollution are major causes of deaths among children below 5 in India and other developing nations. And yet, it has not received as much attention by policy makers as some other diseases such as malaria or HIV/AIDS have. Furthermore, it is perhaps one of the most easily preventable diseases.

A New York Times article introduces some initiative taken towards slashing victims of indoor air pollution in developing countries. Kirk Smith, a UC Berkeley professor, states "one challenge had been the lack of randomized research trials that can show cause and effect, rather than just correlations."

Dr. Smith lead the very first randomized evaluation conducted in Guatemala. The smokeless chulha project at CMF/J-PAL is the second, and it has much larger sample size in the study. Let's keep our eyes open for the results we get from the study.