Smoke and its impact on people's lives

Adam Hart-Davis sees the scale of the problem

Smoke from cooking in the home causes the deaths of 1.6 million mainly women and children every year. Writer and broadcaster Adam Hart-Davis visited Kenya to see the problem for himself, and to raise awareness of one of the biggest killers in the developing world.

Half the world's population can't afford gas or electricity and are forced to cook with wood, dung, charcoal or coal. Smoke from burning these fuels can turn kitchens into death traps.

Adam Hart-Davis visited homes where smoke is a problem, and met some of those affected.

A typical kitchen uses a traditional three-stone fire - there are three stones with woold burnt in between them and the cooking pot on the top. As Adam saw, the wood is not good quality, and is often not quite dry, generating a lot of smoke which goes straight up, blackening the walls and filling the kitchen.

Women and children have to spend hours in the kitchen, breathing in the smoke. With little or no ventilation, the smoke quickly makes the kitchen very unpleasant. As Adam said, "I hate being in here for a few minutes - imagine spending five or six hours in this atmosphere every day!"

But as well as experiencing the realities of cooking in a smoky kitchen, Adam also visited homes with smoke hoods: a simple, low cost solution developed by Practical Action with local communities, which can reduce smoke in the home by up to 75 per cent.

A smoke hood is in essence a box that sits over the fire and directs the smoke up a chimney. Typically about 90cm / 3 foot high and made from metal sheets, it's an improved fireplace so that the cooking pot is raised off the fire itself.

"I'm really impressed," said Adam, after talking to Rispa, an elderly lady with a smoke hood installed. "She used to have a persistent cough and now it's gone. She's saving a whole lot of money on firewood because her fire's more efficient, and what's more it heats the house better and she can stay comfortable in the evening."

Finally, Adam met some of the artisans who make the smoke hoods. An important part of this project is that the technology can be manufactured locally - which not only creates employment, but ensures that smoke alleviation can be sustained without outside intervention.

"Cooking on a small bonfire in the middle of the home has changed little from the Stone Age yet it is killing many, many people around the world," said Adam. "More must urgently be done to tackle this killer in the kitchen."

• Smoke: the killer in the kitchen
• Frequently asked questions
• Practical Action report on indoor air pollution
• Take action now - e-mail Hilary Benn and call for the introduction of an UN-led Global Action Plan to eradicate the killer in the kitchen