To Promote Adoption of Household Health Technologies, Think Beyond Health

Thurber, Mark C.; Warner, Christina; Platt, Lauren; Slaski, Alexander; Gupta, Rajesh; Miller, Grant

doi:10.2105/ajph.2013.301367

Cited by 23 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…First Energy found that measuring the lung function of prospective customers to demonstrate the damage from traditional biomass cooking did not appear to boost stove sales; those shown to have poor lung function requested suitable medicines instead (Adler, 2010). This finding is consistent with studies that have cast doubt on the effectiveness of health education as a spur to adoption of health-improving products in the household (Dupas, 2011; Kremer and Miguel, 2007; Luo et al, 2011; Thurber et al, 2013). …”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 90%

‘Oorja’ in India: Assessing a large-scale commercial distribution of advanced biomass stoves to households

Thurber

Phadke

Nagavarapu

et al. 2014

Energy for Sustainable Development

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Replacing traditional stoves with advanced alternatives that burn more cleanly has the potential to ameliorate major health problems associated with indoor air pollution in developing countries. With a few exceptions, large government and charitable programs to distribute advanced stoves have not had the desired impact. Commercially-based distributions that seek cost recovery and even profits might plausibly do better, both because they encourage distributors to supply and promote products that people want and because they are based around properly-incentivized supply chains that could more be scalable, sustainable, and replicable. The sale in India of over 400,000 “Oorja” stoves to households from 2006 onwards represents the largest commercially-based distribution of a gasification-type advanced biomass stove. BP's Emerging Consumer Markets (ECM) division and then successor company First Energy sold this stove and the pelletized biomass fuel on which it operates. We assess the success of this effort and the role its commercial aspect played in outcomes using a survey of 998 households in areas of Maharashtra and Karnataka where the stove was sold as well as detailed interviews with BP and First Energy staff. Statistical models based on this data indicate that Oorja purchase rates were significantly influenced by the intensity of Oorja marketing in a region as well as by pre-existing stove mix among households. The highest rate of adoption came from LPG-using households for which Oorja's pelletized biomass fuel reduced costs. Smoke- and health-related messages from Oorja marketing did not significantly influence the purchase decision, although they did appear to affect household perceptions about smoke. By the time of our survey, only 9% of households that purchased Oorja were still using the stove, the result in large part of difficulties First Energy encountered in developing a viable supply chain around low-cost procurement of “agricultural waste” to make pellets. The business orientation of First Energy allowed the company to pivot rapidly to commercial customers when the household market encountered difficulties. The business background of managers also facilitated the initial marketing and distribution efforts that allowed the stove distribution to reach scale.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 90%

‘Oorja’ in India: Assessing a large-scale commercial distribution of advanced biomass stoves to households

Thurber

Phadke

Nagavarapu

et al. 2014

Energy for Sustainable Development

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“…Instead, studies are recognizing the importance of non-health motives, including cost and intra-household gender dynamics, in adoption decisions 14 , 15 . But even here, the experience can be mixed.…”

Section: Building Demand For Icsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maximizing the benefits of improved cookstoves: moving from acquisition to correct and consistent use

Shankar

Johnson

Kay

et al. 2014

Glob Health Sci Pract

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“…But technologies need to be developed using systematic, iterative methods that ensure that they are based on the actual needs of the users and that they will be accessible and scalable. 54 Furthermore, equal priority needs to be placed on both prototype development and a strategy for commercial viability.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing sustainable global health technologies: Insight from an initiative to address neonatal hypothermia

Gupta

Patel

Murty

et al. 2014

J Public Health Pol

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Relative to drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines, efforts to develop other global health technologies, such as medical devices, are limited and often focus on the short-term goal of prototype development instead of the long-term goal of a sustainable business model. To develop a medical device to address neonatal hypothermia for use in resource-limited settings, we turned to principles of design theory: (1) define the problem with consideration of appropriate integration into relevant health policies, (2) identify the users of the technology and the scenarios in which the technology would be used, and (3) use a highly iterative product design and development process that incorporates the perspective of the user of the technology at the outset and addresses scalability. In contrast to our initial idea, to create a single device, the process guided us to create two separate devices, both strikingly different from current solutions. We offer insights from our initial experience that may be helpful to others engaging in global health technology development.

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To Promote Adoption of Household Health Technologies, Think Beyond Health

Cited by 23 publications

References 36 publications

‘Oorja’ in India: Assessing a large-scale commercial distribution of advanced biomass stoves to households

‘Oorja’ in India: Assessing a large-scale commercial distribution of advanced biomass stoves to households

Maximizing the benefits of improved cookstoves: moving from acquisition to correct and consistent use

Developing sustainable global health technologies: Insight from an initiative to address neonatal hypothermia

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