Understanding adoption of clean cookstoves

描述（由申请人提供）：家庭空气污染（HAP）是发展中国家的首要公共卫生问题。根据最近的比较风险评估，每年有350万人因接触HAP而过早死亡。虽然HAP暴露与健康之间的因果关系仍存在不确定性，但对有效干预措施进行重点研究的时机已经成熟。过去有限的研究表明，对清洁炉灶的需求很低，即使有清洁炉灶，家庭仍继续使用传统的炉灶。这些行为可能会破坏炉灶干预计划，例如全球清洁炉灶联盟所推动的计划。我们建议利用加纳现有的队列研究增加采用清洁炉灶的因素，并测试促进采用和继续使用的战略。我们的工作在很大程度上依赖于可靠的低成本炉灶使用监测器（SUMS）的可用性，该监测器记录炉灶温度和其他关键参数，以提供长期日常使用的客观测量。此外，我们的工作研究了采用高效生物质炉灶和液化石油气（LPG）。我们的研究围绕四个主要活动展开。首先，我们将在我们目前的干预中测量炉灶的使用（n=1415），并测试一系列 关于预测清洁炉灶使用增加的家庭特征的假设。其次，我们将评估炉灶类型和使用对家庭时间分配的影响，使用时间活动日记，以检验这一假设，即清洁炉灶释放大量的时间为家庭成员，特别是妇女。第三，我们将进行一项小型随机试验，以测试由社区卫生工作者和当地意见领袖提供的健康教育的效果。最后，我们将使用一个简单的招标程序，以引起支付意愿（WTP）的高效率炉灶，并将检查如何WTP的不同功能的炉灶的销售方式。总的来说，这些活动将大大加强有效的家庭能源干预措施的知识基础，以减少空气污染和预防疾病。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Household air pollution (HAP) is a top-priority public health problem in developing countries. According to the most recent comparative risk assessment, 3.5 million people die prematurely each year as a result of HAP exposures. While uncertainties remain regarding causal links between HAP exposures and health, the time is ripe for focused research into effective interventions. Limited past research has shown that the demand for clean cookstoves is low, and that households continue to use traditional hearths even when they have clean stoves. These behaviors threaten to undermine cookstove intervention programs, such as those promoted by the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. We propose to harness an existing cohort in Ghana to study factors that increase the adoption of clean cookstoves, and to test strategies to promote adoption and continued use. Our work draws heavily on the availability of reliable low cost stove use monitors (SUMS), which record stove temperature and other key parameters to provide an objective measure of daily use over long periods of time. Additionally, our work examines the adoption both of efficient biomass cookstoves and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Our study is structured around four main activities. First, we will measure stove use in our current intervention (n=1415) and test a series of hypotheses about household characteristics that predict increased use of clean stoves. Second, we will assess the effects of stove type and usage on household time allocation using time activity diaries, to test the hypothesis that clean cookstoves free up substantial time for household members, particularly women. Third, we will carry out a small-randomized trial to test the effects of health education delivered by community health workers and by local opinion leaders. Finally, we will use a simple bidding procedure to elicit willingness-to-pay (WTP) for high efficiency cookstoves, and will examine how WTP varies in function of the way in which the stove is marketed. Collectively, these activities will substantially enhance the knowledge base for effective household energy interventions that reduce air pollution exposures and prevent disease.