What’s health got to do with it?

The document investigates whether health-based messaging can drive the adoption of clean cookstoves in Cambodia and Kenya. Findings from both studies indicate that health messaging has a minimal effect on actual purchases, with price and the efficacy of sales agents being more significant drivers. While the campaign in Cambodia increased awareness of health risks, awareness in Kenya was already high at the baseline. The research suggests that for health messaging to be effective, it must be combined with innovative financing to overcome affordability barriers and be better aligned with end-user needs.

• Health-focused messaging has a minimal impact on the actual purchase of clean cookstoves, as adoption is influenced by a complex set of multiple factors.
• The cost of clean cookstoves remains a primary barrier to adoption in both Cambodia and Kenya, often overshadowing health concerns.
• In Cambodia, the skill, motivation, and personality of individual sales agents were the most influential factors in driving stove sales.
• Health awareness levels vary by region; the Cambodian campaign successfully increased awareness of the risks of traditional biomass cooking, whereas Kenyan participants already possessed high awareness.
• In Cambodia, positive-toned health messaging was more effective at increasing awareness than negative-toned messaging.
• In the Kenyan study, a goal-setting intervention combined with measures to remove purchase obstacles was the only treatment that showed a statistically significant impact on cookstove change.
• Beyond health, the primary drivers for purchasing the ACE-1 stove in Cambodia included fuel and time savings, the ability to charge phones, and the availability of disposable income.
• The research suggests that health promotion campaigns are most effective when combined with product distribution and affordable financing options.

APA

Johnson, O., Lambe, F., & Ochieng, C. (2016). What’s health got to do with it? Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-WP-2016-04-SNV-cookstoves-health-Cambodia-Kenya.pdf

Chicago

Johnson, Oliver, Fiona Lambe, and Caroline Ochieng. What’s health got to do with it? Stockholm Environment Institute, 2016. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-WP-2016-04-SNV-cookstoves-health-Cambodia-Kenya.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Johnson |first1=Oliver |last2=Lambe |first2=Fiona |last3=Ochieng |first3=Caroline |title=What’s health got to do with it? |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=June 2016 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-WP-2016-04-SNV-cookstoves-health-Cambodia-Kenya.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{johnson2016whats, author = {Johnson, Oliver and Lambe, Fiona and Ochieng, Caroline}, title = {{What’s health got to do with it?}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2016}, month = jun, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-WP-2016-04-SNV-cookstoves-health-Cambodia-Kenya.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }