What's Cooking?: A Mixed Methods Study of Health Perceptions and Use of Improved Cookstoves in Rural India

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<p>The burning of biomass (wood, dung, charcoal, etc.) for cooking and heating is widespread throughout the world and is a major contributor to household air pollution (HAP). Biomass fuels are often burned in inefficient stoves and rooms with poor ventilation, contributing to respiratory illnesses, local deforestation, and global climate change. Improved cookstoves (ICS) are advocated as an effective remedy for the effects of HAP. In this study we examine attitudes associated with ICS and traditional stoves among households that purchased an ICS and households that did not. We employed a mixed-methods study between June 2012 and November 2014 in the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand, India. We conducted 2,038 household surveys and 28 in-depth interviews that included questions about environmental and stove-related perceptions, household socio-demographics, stove and fuel use, socio-economic characteristics, risk and time preferences and a 24-hour biomass fuel weighing exercise for

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