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Overview

The INCLEN-UCB Training in Household Air Monitoring (THAM) provided training to Indian investigators currently engaged or interested in household air pollution research, including projects to evaluate the health and other impacts of traditional and advanced cookstoves and fuels. THAM was hosted by INCLEN, the International Clinical Epidemiology Network with field activities at their SOMAARTH Demographic Development & Environmental Surveillance Site. This year’s curriculum focused on air pollution measurement in households and focused on the most current methods used worldwide. The workshop also addressed study design and methods for measuring stove emissions, stove usage and adoption, indoor and outdoor pollution, and personal exposure, and techniques for understanding intervention acceptability and ways to motivate intervention uptake and adoption. THAM grew from an initial training run by our research group in Antigua, Guatemala in 2011 (SCRIG, the Summer Cookstove Research Institute, Guatemala).  

Participants were asked to form small groups during the first day of the workshop. These groups worked together on hands-on activities and also created a short proposal for a household air pollution study which they presented to all of the participants. Presentations from the groups can be downloaded below.  

Details about the the workshop, including logistics, preliminary readings, and a list of participants can be found in the Workshop Booklet (PDF).

Funding from the Centers for Disease Control and the Public Health Institute is greatly appreciated.  

Curriculum PDFs

Day I - September 14, 2015

  1. Introduction to the International Clinical Epidemiology Network, Dr. Narendra K. Arora
  2. Brief Introduction to the Health Impacts of Household Air Pollution (HAP), Dr. Kirk R. Smith
  3. HAP Respiratory Effects, Dr. Karan Madan
  4. Environmental Health Sciences Overview + Workshop Frameworks, Ajay Pillarisetti
  5. Study Design Overview, Ajay Pillarisetti
  6. Community Interaction and Ethics and Consent at SOMAARTH, Rakesh Kumar Singh + Dr. Sonika Verma

SUMs Activity Overview + Logsheet, Ajay Pillarisetti + L. Drew Hill

Day II - September 15, 2015

  1. Making the Clean Available: Old and new paradigms for addressing household air pollution in India, Dr. Kirk R. Smith
  2. Household Air Pollution, Ajay Pillarisetti
  3. Stove Usage, Ajay Pillarisetti

HAP Activity Overview + Logsheet, L. Drew Hill + Ajay Pillarisetti

Day III - September 16, 2015

  1. Personal Exposure, L. Drew Hill
  2. SOMAARTH Processes, Dr. Sai C. Das
  3. SOMAARTH Software, Dr. Abhishek Singh 
  4. Cleaner air for healthier homes: perspectives on strengthening the evidence base for household energy interventions in India, Dr. Kalpana Balakrishnan
  5. Examining health effects of air pollution in integrated rural-urban cohorts in Southern India, Dr. Kalpana Balakrishnan
  6. Global Burden of Disease and Comparative Risk Assessment: An Introduction, Dr. Kirk R. Smith

Day IV - September 17, 2015

  1. Data Management, Dr. Abhishek Singh + Neeraj Kashyap
  2. Emissions: Overview + Fundamentals, L. Drew. Hill
  3. Emissions: Measurements for Quantifying Air Quality Effects from Cooking, Ankit Yadav 
  4. Reducing the health burdens from household air pollution: Evidence and recommendations from the new WHO Air Quality Guidelines, Dr. Kirk R. Smith, using slides prepared by Dr. Nigel Bruce
  5. Increasing adoption and exclusive use of "cleaner" cookstoves, Stephen Harrell

Day V - September 18, 2015 - Group Proposal Presentations

  1. Substitution of traditional cook stoves with improved stoves results in better response to treatment for primary hypertension, Group A
  2. Evaluations of Health Expenditure due to Household Air Pollution in Women of Households that use Traditional Stoves and LPG, Group B, Noonan G, Ravindra K, Rakesh K, Anil MNV, Amudha MN
  3. Impact of Clean Cooking on Household Air Quality and Respiratory Health in an Indian Rural Community, Group C, K Krishnamurthi, K Goel, B Padhi, A Gupta, A Rawool 
  4. Impact of Solar Lamp replacement Intervention on annual Acute Respiratory Tract Infection (ARI) rates in children aged between 6 to 15 years in rural Karnataka, Group D, S Rajeshwari, SC Das, A Yadav, K Madan

To download all THAM materials, including the workshop booklet, lecture slides, and group presentations, click here. Warning: this is a large download of a single zip file of approximately 90 MB. 

Photos