Team Explores Health Hazards of Open-Fire Cooking

February 3, 2017

A Bass Connections project team traveled to the village of Mandena in northeast Madagascar to investigate the effect of traditional cooking practices on health, air quality, biodiversity and agriculture.

This video highlights the team’s efforts to collect health and air quality data from community members in order to discern the effects of open-fire cooking on their respiratory and cardiovascular health. The team’s goal was to work with the local community to produce sustainable data-driven solutions to foster the health of the people of Mandena and their natural environment.

The video features team leaders Charles Nunn and Melissa Manus (Evolutionary Anthropology), graduate team member Lydia Greene (Ecology), undergraduate team members Laura Guidera (Biology), Anna-Karin Hess (Program II) and Tommy Klug (Public Policy Studies and Environmental Sciences) and community team member Henri Lahady.

As an environmental sciences and public policy double major, I think this project really allows me to explore the scientific research aspect and then integrate that research into creating sustainable policy decisions. —Tommy Klug

Bass Connections team

For the full story, including more videos, photos and research results, check out When Traditions Take a Toll, produced by the Duke Global Health Institute.

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