Diaspora influence on clean cooking in India
January/February 2024 | Volume 23 Number 1
By Mariah Felipe
Photo courtesy of the Smokeless Cookstove FoundationOne type of clean cookstove is a smokeless mud model developed by the Smokeless Cookstove Foundation through its Clean Cooking for Livelihoods program.
Dr. Praveen Kumar’s journey into climate change research wasn’t a typical one. He began his studies as a technology major at the University of Mumbai, and went on to work as an engineer, where he says, “I started observing the detrimental impact of factories on poorer communities.” He noticed that vulnerable populations in Mumbai were constantly being exposed to toxins and pollutants due to industrial activities taking place in their surroundings which posed severe health risks.
This led him back to academia in pursuit of a master’s degree in social sciences from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in India and later a PhD in social work from Washington University in St. Louis. Today, he works as an associate professor at Boston College School of Social Work. He’s focused on interdisciplinary research related to environmental justice and global health while emphasizing the role that climate change plays in both.
"When you start working on the environment and its impact on vulnerable communities, and you take a 30,000-foot view, climate change becomes one of the most important pieces of it," he explains.
In 2023, Kumar was named an
NIH Climate and Health Scholar. In this role he is currently working with Fogarty’s Center for Global Health Studies to
analyze proposals for case studies to advance research on climate adaptation strategies and their impact on public health. The call for proposals received over 130 applications; eight to 10 will be selected for publication.
With his academic experience in both India and the United States, Kumar acknowledges their similarities with an emphasis on technical and quantitative skills in both settings. However, he notes a significant difference in international diversity, stating, "In the US, the student body is quite diverse, but in India, not so much which has a great impact on the types of perspectives available to you in a research setting."
His PhD project at Washington University was part of the
Clean Cooking Implementation Science Network (ISN), led by Fogarty with support from the NIH Common Fund, and focused on using clean cooking methods to improve the health of mothers and their children by reducing their exposure to household air pollution.
Photo courtesy of the Smokeless Cookstove FoundationAnother view of the smokeless mud model developed by the Smokeless Cookstove Foundation.
Based on this study, he published a paper highlighting some of the issues with previous clean cooking policies in India, which subsidized gas tanks needed for cooking but did not emphasize their health benefits. He identified three main obstacles for families living in rural areas in India and other parts of the world in implementing clean cooking practices: affordability, accessibility, and awareness. "It's a global health problem," he says, pointing out that the health implications for women and children exposed to household air pollution include heart disease, stroke, cancer, chronic lung disease and pneumonia, and even stunted growth in infants whose mothers were exposed while pregnant to household air pollutants from biomass fuels.
Additionally, Kumar hopes to help students and up-and-coming researchers in India hone their skills and contribute to larger research projects, like the clean cooking initiative. “That’s where the role of Fogarty is so crucial," says Kumar. "Because the center focuses on building the capacity and working with global health institutions, including nonprofit organizations and academic institutions.” Through such capacity-building efforts, Kumar sees a future for more cutting-edge research at Indian institutions.
More Information
Updated: February 14, 2024
To view Adobe PDF files,
download current, free accessible plug-ins from Adobe's website.
Related World Regions / Countries
Related Global Health Research Topics