Best buys for Africa: Lower household air pollution with improved cookstoves

Fast-track Analysis

The benefit-cost ratios (BCRs) of the assessed interventions are 11.7 for improved cookstoves for wood and 2.4-2.5 for cooking with Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). The quantified benefits are health improvements, and cooking time and solid fuel savings. The quantified costs are cost of stove, stove maintenance, LPG fuel, and intervention promotion program. Benefits and costs are estimated per household that adopts the interventions. Total benefits and costs are not estimated because predicting intervention adoption rates is very difficult.

Improved cookstoves for wood is a short to medium term intervention because of its relatively moderate health benefits. LPG, or other clean options such as electricity, is as incomes grow the longer-term solution in order to achieve substantial health benefits.