Economic, Social and Cultural Factors Associated with the Adoption of Firewood- Burning Improved Cook stoves – Case of the district of Chiguata, province and department of Arequipa in Peru

Abstract

The purpose of this research was analysing the economic, social and cultural factors associated with the adoption of firewood-burning improved cook stoves in users of the district of Chiguata, province and department of Arequipa in Peru. This is a bivariate exploratory prospective observational and analytical study. Probabilistic dependencies between associated variables were obtained through non-parametric tests with Pearson Chi- square test; and the parametric tests were obtained with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and the Student's t-test for p-value > 0.05.The variables associated with the adoption are: knowledge of use, maintenance and repair of the cook stove; investment in improving their kitchen; dissemination of educational messages on the benefits of the improved cook stove; efects of indoor air pollution, specially broadcasted by local radios; perception of the risk on the exposure to polluting fumes; having safe water; perceiving the improved cook stove as the safest technology against burns; and use of liquefied petroleum gas (LGP). The age, number of children, family income, animal breeding, profession and/or educational level are not associated with the adoption.