Cambodia's First Entirely Smoke-Free District: Banteay Meas Went From 41% to Over 85% Clean Cooking

SNV's Smoke-Free Village approach, developed in Cambodia from 2021 after an earlier subsidy-led effort fell short, uses education, local leaders, pagodas, schools, health centres and local stove suppliers to move families off wood and charcoal fires. On 16 January 2025 Banteay Meas became the first district in Cambodia declared entirely smoke-free, with over 85% of households cooking mainly with clean fuels, up from 41% at the start. By the end of 2025 the approach had reached nearly 500 villages and about 100,000 households in Kampot, Kampong Speu, Battambang and Siem Reap provinces, and SNV reports that 96% of those households own at least one clean cookstove. The project is now listed as concluded, but the village model is documented for others to copy.