Christine Fajardo

Biography

When Guatemalan social worker Eduardo Canuz teaches rural women how to cook their tamales on a gas stove, he is taking on more than a thousand years of history. The Maya people of Guatemala’s highlands have been cooking over wood fires and bathing in wood-heated saunas, known as temazcales, since the dawn of their civilization. But the smoke is unhealthy and especially dangerous for women and children. That’s where Mr. Canuz comes in, with his supply of gas stoves and tanks of liquid propane. He’s the field coordinator for a pilot research program called NACER (“to be born” in Spanish). In San Lorenzo and nearby mountain villages, Mr. Canuz and his team have installed gas stoves in the homes of 50 pregnant women. The goal is to monitor air quality in their homes through the course of their pregnancies, and then to study the health and development of their babies.

Research Interest

hepatology