Reducing Indoor Air Pollution through Improved Cookstoves Dissemination: The Case of Patsari Stoves in Rural Mexico
in PCIA Bulletin Issue 7, June 2006

Cynthia Armendáriz Arnez1 2, Omar Masera1 2, Rufus Edwards 3, Michael Johnson3, Paulina Serrano 2, Miriam Zuk4, Leonora Rojas Bracho 4, Felipe Angeles 5, Henry Wöhrnschimmel5, Jephte Cruz4, Nick Lam3 Abraham Martinez5, Horacio Riojas6.

Introduction
In Mexico, nearly 25 million people rely on fuelwood as their main energy source for cooking. Some 17 million use it exclusively and 8 million use it in combination with LPG (INEGI, 2000, Masera, 2005). Cooking is typically done on threestone open fires (known locally as fogones), a deeply-rooted tradition associated with extensive fuelwood use, the release of various pollutants due to incomplete combustion, and health impacts caused by exposure of women and children to smoke (Smith, 2000). To help solve these problems, a multi-institutional and integrated project was launched in the Central Mexican Highlands aimed at the dissemination of improved woodburning
cookstoves (ICS) (Masera et al. 2005). A new model of ICS, called “Patsari” was developed, along with an innovative dissemination strategy that includes a participatory users‘-centered approach. The project includes comprehensive monitoring of user preferences and attitudes, and ICS impacts on: fuelwood savings and other parameters related to stove performance, greenhouse gas emissions, health and indoor air pollution.

1Centro de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas, UNAM, Morelia, Mexico
2Grupo Interdisciplinario de Tecnología Rural Apropriada, A.C., Michoacán, Mexico
3Department of Environmental Health, Science, and Policy, University of California Irvine
4Instituto Nacional de Ecología, Mexico City, Mexico
5Centro Nacional de Investigación y Capacitación Ambiental, Mexico City, Mexico
6 Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuernavaca, Mexico.Air Max 270 Men