Let Them Breathe: Support Smokeless Chulhas For Rural Women

Thousands of rural women across India still cook over open fires. These fires are far from harmless: the smoke they generate can be deadly. These rural women and their families are exposed to toxic fumes day in and day out, just so that they can eat.

Smoke from these old chulhas is a major source of indoor air pollution (IAP) and rural Indian households have some of the highest levels of IAP in the world. Around 70% of households in rural India don’t have proper ventilation. What happens when you burn an open fire without any ventilation? The smoke and fumes linger in the air and people breathe it in, leading to short-term and long-term health consequences from asthma to tuberculosis, and even rare condition. This toxic smoke can even affect future generations by causing birth defects and low birth weight.

Indoor air pollution causes an estimated 600,000 premature deaths across the south-east Asia region and 80% of these untimely deaths occur in rural Indian homes. Women, children, and entire families are being wiped out simply because they are trying to cook food. Chulha smoke is also a big environmental problem since burning of wood, coal, or animal dung in chulhas releases a considerable amount of greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change.

Eradicating chulha smoke is not just a public health issue but an environmental one as well. However, many people are wholly dependent on chulhas thanks to its simplicity and portability. Many rural households can’t use gas. So if we can’t get rid of chulhas entirely, we focus on getting rid of the smoke by promoting the use of smokeless chulhas.

BHOJ Academy along with Greenway Appliances are working together to give a lifeline to rural women by providing them with smokeless chulhas. With this small change, thousands of lives in rural India can be saved while also protecting the environment and reducing air pollution. These smokeless chulhas are portable, easy to use, and save fuel while reducing smoke emission by 70%.

Help rural women and their families breathe by donating a smokeless chulha. You can change their lives and their communities for the better.

About The Organisation

BHOJ Academy is a Non-Governmental Organization working in child education, children & women development, welfare programmes, rural development, and environmental preservation for over 28 years. Registered under the Madhya Pradesh society registration act, 1972 on 10/06/1992 as well as registered with NITI AYOG (Reg. No. MP/2013/0070823). Since the inception of the organization, they have been working in remote tribal villages to provide vocation skill development training and public healthcare in Madhya Pradesh, as well as engaged in various skilling, economic and social development activities.

Note: All the donations towards this campaign is eligible for Indian Tax Exemption.