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Overview

The March 21-25, 2016 Training in Household Air Pollution (THAP) in Bhutan was a five-day training workshop on household air pollution (HAP) and monitoring targeting officials, practitioners, and academics currently involved or interested in initiating research related to HAP including evaluation of health and other impacts from traditional and advanced cook stoves. The main aim of the training was to equip participants with the skills and knowledge to design and evaluate intervention studies and other research programs related to HAP.

The training included theoretical aspects of household air pollution and related health exposures and provided a hands-on exercise on measuring stove usage, indoor concentrations, and personal exposures in nearby homes using the most current methods and equipment used worldwide. The training also covered principles of study design, ethical considerations and implications for evaluation, and outlined next steps in evaluating ongoing or planned intervention projects or programs.

THAP, which means stove, fire, or cooking in dzongkha, the national language of Bhutan, was hosted by the Ministry of Health of Bhutan and the Bhutan Country Office of the World Health Organization.  It was funded by the Southeast Asian Regional Office of WHO and the instructors were from the University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco.  It was held at the Hotel Holiday Home in Paro, Bhutan. THAP is an extension of an ongoing series of trainings run by our research group, beginning in Antigua, Guatemala in 2011 (SCRIG, the Summer Cookstove Research Institute, Guatemala) and continuing in Palwal, India, in the fall of 2015 (THAM, Training in Household Air Monitoring). 

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.  

 

Curriculum PDFs

Day I - March 21, 2016

  1. Training Objectives and Program
  2. Clean Energy Initiatives Bhutan: Policies, Plans & Programs, Tilak Sunwar
  3. UNDP Bhutan, Nawaraj Chhetri
  4. Tarayana Foundation, Wangmo
  5. Household Air Pollution: Global, Regional, and Country Action Plans, Lesley Onyon
  6. Multisectoral National Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases, Rada Dupka
  7. Bhutan EcoStove and Bhutan Multipurpose Stove, Nar Bahadur Khatiwora
  8. Global Burden of Disease and Comparative Risk Assessment: An Introduction, Kirk R. Smith
  9. Introduction & Frameworks, Ajay Pillarisetti
  10. Study Design, Ajay Pillarisetti

Time Activity Form, L. Drew Hill

Day II -  March 22, 2016

  1. Household Air Pollution: Solution Paradigms #1, 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 -  March 23, 2016

  1. Human Subjects Approval, Mongal Singh Gurung
  2. Questionnaire Design & Surveys, Sankar Sambandam
  3. Personal Exposure, L. Drew Hill
  4. Health Effects I, Lisa Thompson

Day IV - March 24, 2016

  1. Gadgets and Data Analysis Overview, Ajay Pillarisetti
  2. Exposure Activity: Results and Discussion, L. Drew Hill
  3. Health Effects II,  Lisa Thompson 
  4. Examining health effects of air pollution in integrated rural-urban cohorts in Southern India: Strengthening the Evidence base for Exposure-Response Relationships, Sankar Sambandam
  5. Household Air Pollution Studies from Bhutan, Tenzin Wangchuk
  6. Reducing the health burden from household air pollution (HAP): Evidence and recommendations from the new WHO Air Quality Guidelines, Kirk R. Smith

Day V -  March 25, 2016 - Group Proposal Presentations

  1. Assessment of household air pollution in Bhutanese households, using improved cookstoves and traditional cookstoves, and its associated health outcomes, Group I, Tilak Sunwar, Dr. Chorten Gyeltshen, Lobzang Tshering, Kinley, Mongal S Gurung
  2. Effectiveness of improved cookstove dissemination in reduction of household air pollution in Bhutan, Group II, Wangmo, Yeshey Choden, Gyan Gurung, Loday Zangpo, Tenzin Wangchuk
  3. Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice on stove and fuel use and health effects in Different communities of Pemagatshel Dzongkhag in Eastern Bhutan, Group III, Karma Wangdi, Rada Dukpa, Nar Bdr Khatiwora, Kinley Dorji, Karma Tenzin
  4. Effect of Household Air Pollution Exposure during Pregnancy on Birth Weight, Group IV, Dr. Sudipto Roy, Tshencho Dorji, Pema Tshewang, Tshewang Dorji, Pema Khandu and Tara Devi Laabar

Photos and participant evaluations coming soon!