Community-Engaged Research: A Tool to Advance Cookstove Interventions
Condition: Blood Pressure; Inflammation
MeSH terms: Inflammation
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Nearly 3 billion people rely on biomass combustion to meet basic domestic energy needs. Many
      households use traditional cookstoves to meet these energy needs, which can result in
      extremely high indoor air pollution concentrations. Indoor air pollution from biomass
      combustion accounts for an estimated 3.9 million premature deaths per year, representing
      about 4.8% of the global disease burden. Improved stove designs have the potential to
      substantially reduce indoor air pollution exposures. However, there are few randomized
      intervention trials, and previous stove intervention studies have been plagued by low
      improved stove adoption and sustained use, severely limiting interpretations of these
      studies. This research proposes to conduct community surveys and in-depth interviews among
      Honduran cookstove users to gain insight into the complex pathways surrounding barriers to
      and predictors of sustained improved cookstove adoption (among the target population for the
      proposed intervention). This information will be used to conduct and enhance a randomized
      improved cookstove intervention among 300 Honduran families, incorporating qualitative and
      quantitative measures of cookstove use and measuring pre- to post-intervention changes in
      pollutant exposures and subclinical indicators of cardiovascular health.

      The primary goals are twofold:

        -  To incorporate community-engaged approaches throughout all aspects of the research

        -  To maximize sustained stove use (thereby maximizing the health impact of the
           intervention) to achieve valid exposure-response estimates.

      Both objectives utilize innovative strategies to fill knowledge gaps. The research team will
      build upon previous studies in Latin America that have focused on identifying and validating
      appropriate field techniques for exposure and health assessments in rural areas of developing
      countries.

      In summary, the proposed project will provide insight regarding barriers/predictors of
      sustained cookstove adoption, an issue impeding research in this field; assess the
      relationship between stove use and indicators of cardiovascular health, a substantial and
      quickly growing disease burden in developing countries; and result in a more comprehensive
      and valid assessment of the impact of a cookstove intervention.
    


Intervention name(s): Cleaner cookstove received after visit 2; Cleaner cookstove received after visit 4
Intervention type(s): Other; Other
Intervention description(s): The participants will change from a traditional wood burning cookstove to a cleaner burning (wood) cookstove called the JUSTA (after visit 2).; The participants will change from a traditional wood burning cookstove to a cleaner burning (wood) cookstove called the JUSTA (after visit 4).
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention