José Andrés and the #1 Killer of Women and Children

Can a simple cookstove end world hunger and poverty? Celebrity chef José Andrés was named one of the Time 100 Most Influential People of 2018 for his dedication to humanitarian causes and recently delivered more than 3 million meals in Puerto Rico in the wake of the devastating 2017 hurricanes, but he has been helping people around the world for many years. He joins host Billy Shore and United Nations Foundation President and CEO Kathy Calvin to discuss why a simple clean cookstove drives cultural, environmental and economic change in the developing world. “If we want to end poverty in this century, I believe clean cookstoves is the one single issue [where] everything meets,” says Andrés. “It’s one of the number one killers of women and children in the world,” agrees Calvin, explaining the UN Foundation’s Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves initiative. The statistics are jarring: Four million women and children around the world die every year as a result of inhaling the smoke and soot from wood, coal and kerosene cookstoves.

 

These two changemakers believe Americans should care more about global poverty issues. Andrés, who poured his heart and soul into helping the people of Haiti and Puerto Rico, references the current national conversation about building walls to keep people out. “The only wall conversation we should be having is walls that we’re going to build to create community kitchens and schools,” he explains. “If we don’t pay attention to what’s happening around the world, we will find it hitting us and in ways we don’t like,” notes Calvin.

 

Listen in as these two passionate anti-hunger and poverty crusaders explain a simple solution to one of the most intractable problems in the world.