Nancy Sanford Hughes one of five Americans to win $100,000 Purpose Prize for making an extraordinary impact in an encore career.
Promoting safe, fuel-efficient stoves
StoveTeam solves medical and environmental problems by helping start locally owned factories to promote the use of safe, affordable, fuel-efficient stoves in the developing world.
StoveTeam works to alleviate poverty by supporting social and economic development within each target country. By giving local entrepreneurs the necessary tools and training, these men and women are the perfect candidates to become leaders managing the production, marketing and sales of fuel-efficient stoves.
“World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than two million premature deaths annually are caused by exposure to smoke from traditional cookstoves and open fires, with women and children the most afflicted. That makes it one of the top five overall health risks in poor, developing countries, and the cause of twice as many deaths as malaria.
The toxic emissions are blamed for low birth weights, pneumonia in young children, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, cataracts and other health problems in adults. Half of all deaths among children under age five from acute lower respiratory infections are due to indoor air pollution from household solid fuels, according to WHO.”
– www.cmaj.ca, October 12, 2010
"More than three-quarters of the world’s black carbon is thought to come from developing countries, discharged from cookstoves, open burning, and older diesel engines."
-Black Carbon, Environmental Health Perspectives, April 2011
