Opportunities for transition to clean household energy in Nepal
Application of the WHO Household Energy Assessment Rapid Tool (HEART)
Overview
According to the 2016 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey, 66% of Nepali households use mainly solid fuel for cooking on inefficient stoves. Incomplete fuel combustion of solid fuels emits greenhouse gases and harmful smoke, contributing to climate change, forest degradation, ill health and preventable deaths. Further, the physical burden and time necessary to collect wood for fuel is borne primarily by women and children, thus compromising their productive time, such as social activities and education.
The Household Energy Assessment Rapid Tool (HEART) was developed by WHO to support implementation of the guidelines. It is being used for conducting rapid situational assessments and mapping stakeholders to determine a country’s readiness to access clean energy technologies. The tool is used to collect and synthesize information on household energy use and its impact on national public health. Information presented can be used to stimulate informed discussion on the impacts of interventions for household energy, shared responsibilities and coordinated action, country-specific barriers to implementation and opportunities for the public health and other sectors to collaboratively accelerate the transition to clean household energy.
The rapid assessment does not replace the detailed economic evaluation required to identify national energy priorities, national and global mapping of disease prevalence associated with polluting fuels or the social and political considerations required for applying major social interventions to transition to clean energy. The assessment does provide a broad overview of the current situation of household energy and health, identifies key stakeholders and will ultimately support intersectoral cooperation to reduce HAP and improve health. This report presents the results obtained from use of HEART in Nepal.
