Tackling Indoor Air Pollution: The Story of Nandi Improved Kitchen Designs

Elsa and Irene

Elsa is a middle-aged woman with four children and grandchildren living in her little plot in Mosoriot, Nandi County. She has raised her children in her humble mud house and cooked in her smoky little kitchen, a temporary structure leaning on the side of her house, for many years. Elsa did not know that her smoky kitchen could be the reason she had been hospitalized twice for a chest condition in the last two years.

Elsa’s new Nandi-improved kitchen features increased ventilation.

The story of AMPATH cannot be told without the mention of Irene Kalamai. Now a retired nurse, Irene was very instrumental in setting up the AMPATH HIV clinic in Mosoriot in the early 2000s working with Professor Joe Mamlin. Her passion for the people in Nandi County where she comes from led her to accept an invitation to assist in addressing the growing problem of chronic lung disease as a result of indoor air pollution. Many Nandi homes, like other traditional Kenyan communities, cook using biomass fuels like wood and agricultural wastes in inadequately ventilated kitchens. The women and children who spend more time in these kitchens suffer the most from the effects of indoor air pollution, which is linked to many respiratory illnesses and deaths.

The Nandi-improved kitchens were designed jointly with women from Nandi and with the help of the Purdue University Global Air Quality Trekkers (GAQT) engineering team led by Professor Brandon Boor and Ph.D student Danielle Wagner.  The team was able to compare the pollution rates of the traditional kitchens and the Nandi-modified kitchens using low-cost detectors installed in both kitchens. The improved kitchens were designed to improve ventilation mainly through increasing window and door sizes, creating a vent, including a roof wall gap, and introducing a chimney to the traditional stove to ensure there was maximum air flow in the kitchens for better ventilation.  The improvements in the kitchen and stove designs led to an 80-90 percent reduction in the concentration and exposure to wood smoke and carbon monoxide while cooking.

The walls of Elsa’s old kitchen show soot accumulation.

The exterior of Elsa’s new kitchen shows the increased ventilation.

Through the support of AMPATH’s partner, AbbVie Foundation, women like Elsa can now nurture their families without exposing themselves to the risks and effects of indoor air pollution. AbbVie Foundation has continued to support prevention of HIV and other chronic diseases through community efforts such as these that can be scaled to other regions. The problem of indoor air pollution is widespread in rural homes among low- and middle-income counties and there is a huge need to address this issue through community- led innovations similar to the Nandi Kitchens. AMPATH supported Elsa to construct her kitchen which also serves as a demonstration kitchen. She has welcomed many people from her village interested in the kitchen and happily talks about how the kitchen has improved her quality of life and family’s health. She still has her old kitchen that has its walls lined with soot so her visitors can compare the two.

“Working with women like Elsa gives me joy. The women are the pillars of this community and if I can do something to improve their lives and put a smile on their faces, that makes me happy,” said Irene. In addition to improving the kitchen designs, the indoor air pollution prevention efforts include community sensitization on the importance of well-ventilated kitchens that is growing acceptance among the Nandi women. AMPATH is also working with women through community groups to improve their income security so they can afford the modification of their kitchen with reasonably low cost.

Elsa welcomes members of her community to see her Nandi-improved kitchen design.