WOMEN'S HEALTH IN NEPAL

Lorenne Gavish • Mar 03, 2020

In Nepal, a woman’s health is deeply defined by her duties at home...

Women’s health is often viewed, more simply, as reproductive health. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) defines it more like, "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity". From the social justice perspective, a woman’s health includes the differences associated with that individual’s intersecting identities of race, class, gender, religion, socioeconomic standing, sexual identity and much more. However, all of this becomes even more vital when looking at the health of a woman in relationship to the country she lives in, particularly, how it is exacerbated by their standing within a developing country, where they are often even further disadvantaged, considering the experiences and risks particular to that place.

In Nepal, a woman’s health is deeply defined by her duties at home and, for many, their status as a mother. Both of these factors make their physical and mental health especially susceptible to dangers related to things that most of us consider simple, non-threatening daily activities: heating a home, cooking and caring for our children’s health.

Women, who do the bulk of the cooking in Nepal (and globally), are more acutely exposed to the product of burning biomass fuels on stoves: a complex mix of pollutants which include a high concentrations of particulate matter, hundreds of times higher than what is found in the outdoors. Children are thought to be even more vulnerable, especially those under five, who spend most of their time with their mothers, unable to leave the kitchen due to their dependence. Each year, this indoor air pollution contributes to 3 million premature deaths across the globe and millions of debilitating illnesses, the majority of which are experienced by women, and children under the age of five.

A 2018 study entitled “Women's Ideas about the Health Effects of Household Air Pollution, Developed through Focus Group Discussions and Artwork in Southern Nepal.” worked with groups of “home cooks” in Nepal with the goal of using art as a means of engaging these women and mothers in discussions of how indoor air pollution impacts their lives. In the Terai district of southern Nepal, the researchers held four focus groups, including 26 local women from urban and peri-urban areas, and six local artists, to discuss their experiences and collaboratively develop images to create awareness and education surrounding this issue.

The results are universal to mothers everywhere. One participant explained, “We are all big and can bear anything … but the children cannot bear it. The small children, from the time they are born, cannot bear that. Therefore, the children get sick immediately.” Another woman stated, “we have to save our children from the smoke”, with yet another mother telling her children, as she cooked, “go now, and come back here when the food is cooked”, trying to save her children from the impacts of the smoke, while bearing it herself.

Without an option, these mothers remain beholden to the open fires or simple stoves fueled by kerosene, biomass and coal. By providing families with fuel-efficient, eco-friendly cookstoves we help to reduce smoke and harmful gasses by up to 90%, reduce cooking time by up to 50%, and reduce biomass fuel use by up to 75%. That means less time for women and children gathering that fuel – a sometimes dangerous task, leaving them vulnerable to unforeseen threats.

While Himalayan Stove Project still has millions of stoves to go, we hope to contribute to closing the gender equity gap as well as improving children’s health through this simple yet highly effective technology.

If you believe in this transformative work and mission, please consider donating to or volunteering with HSP today.

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WILDFIRES, THE CLIMATE CYCLE AND A NEW BALANCE

By Lorenne Gavish • 03 Feb, 2020

Though no longer making headlines, the Australian wildfires prompted another wave of global dialogue regarding climate change, and while these massive blazes have reduced, they continue to burn amongst dangerous heatwaves. The reporting and discussions die down, but Australia and the world will continue to face the cost of such huge blazes as they reoccur over time; lands and ecosystems lost, wildlife, precious sites, structures and human life. While it feels impossible to fully quantify and comprehend the impacts, what we do know is that climate change has increased the risk of these wildfires and the physical and emotional fallout that comes with extreme weather events. Recently, Richard Betts from the UK Met Office in Exeter and colleagues reviewed 57 peer-reviewed studies on the link between wildfire risk and climate change, the results? All 57 studies found that climate change increases the severity or regularity of weather conditions such as high temperatures, wind, low humidity and low rainfall which stoke the likelihood and ability for this new era of severe wildfires. The wildfires themselves as does any smoke, feedback into the climate cycle by giving off more carbon and increasing the overall atmospheric levels. The Australia fires alone have dumped an estimated 400 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere. For some perspective, a recent NPR interview points out that all of the industrial emissions (energy production, transportation etc.) in Australia in 2018 were around 530 million tons. While fires are a natural part of the cycles of forests and ecosystems, and professionals in fire ecology and atmosphere science will say that wildfires tend to be carbon neutral over time, the vegetation that is expected to regrow and help soak up carbon to maintain the balance is being stunted. According to Bob Yokelson, a researcher at the University of Montana, climate change is causing fires to burn more relentlessly, more often and in more places. Simultaneously, temperatures are rising, and rain patterns are shifting, potentially make it much harder for some forests to maintain the natural pattern of regrowth that would usually occur. As our planet and its systems begin to change, a new version of homeostasis comes into view. The good news is, we are learning, we are adjusting and we are still fighting to restore the balance of life, Earth and atmosphere as we know it.