The Cookstove Project
Indoor smoke from traditional cooking fires is a leading cause of pneumonia, especially in children under five. It also contributes to deforestation and environmental damage. Omni Med partners with local leaders and Village Health Teams (VHTs) to build and promote clean-burning mud cookstoves.
Cookstoves are built using local materials—mud, brick, and sand. Families take part in the construction, which creates ownership and ensures long-term use. VHTs guide the process, teaching how to shape and maintain the stove. Once complete, the stove uses less firewood, produces far less smoke, and provides a safer cooking space for the whole household.
How Cookstoves Are Made
1. Changing Behavior: Adoption of a clean cookstove by villagers is not always easy. The health benefits are not understood and in fact are often not important to them. There are customs and traditions that are difficult to break.​
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2. Training and quality control: Training the trainers is an essential step because it is at this point that the skills, knowledge and best practices are passed on. A gap or misstep at this stage will result in the construction of stoves that offer no benefits to the end user.​
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3. Preparation and construction: The proportions of the materials that go into the mortar must be correct and they must be properly mixed. The measurements need to be accurate and all of the air channels must be clear and free of materials so that the wood will burn correctly and the exhaust vent properly.
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4. Follow up: After installation has been completed, it must be confirmed that the women are using the stove properly. Proper maintenance and repair also needs to be considered.​
Why It Matters
- Pneumonia is a top killer of children under five in Uganda.
- Traditional cooking fires expose families—especially women and children—to constant smoke.
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Cutting wood for fires contributes to deforestation and climate change.
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Clean cookstoves are a powerful and affordable solution.
Our Approach
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VHTs mobilize households and teach stove-building.
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Families are involved in construction.
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Local materials keep it sustainable.
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Follow-up visits ensure correct use.
A finished cookstove ready for use
Volunteers learning helping build cookstoves
A look at the inside of a cookstove
Through dangerous indoor air pollution, open fire cooking claims the lives of approximately 3.8 million people each year. Traditional three-stone fires are not able to fully burn fuel, causing toxic gas and other waste products to be emitted as a byproduct.
