Every year, nearly one million people die because they lack access to clean cooking solutions. The infrastructure and affordable fuel solutions cannot meet the rising population numbers, especially in the urban centers. Even though continents such as Asia and Latin America have achieved a high transition from traditional fuels to modern energy services, the Sub-Saharan region still lags. A lot of people still use firewood and charcoal to cook. These fuels produce fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which the World Health Organization reports can exceed safe air-quality guidelines by more than 200 times, causing the largest health impacts globally, contributing to millions of deaths each year. In an attempt to protect future generations, we need to address this to ensure sustainable living.
Household Air Pollution (HAP) has increased the risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, and low birth weight in pregnant women. Women and girls being primarily the cooks, are the ones who are mostly affected by pollution from the emissions from burning firewood and charcoal. Women and girls are the ones who ensure the continuation of future generations. Continued exposure to these pollutants threatens maternal health and the well-being of future generations. Respiratory infections in African children under five were 7,642 per 100,000, significantly higher than the global average of 5,941. For children, exposure in the first five years of life is linked to permanent reductions in lung function, stunting, and lower cognitive development. Children are the future, and they ought to be protected.
There have been great innovations trying to solve this issue. The use of electric pressure cookers, biogas, Improved Biomass Stoves (ICS), and fan-driven gasifiers represents a crucial transitional technology for rural populations where liquid fuels or electricity may be unavailable. One notable innovation was KOKO. I’m sure most Kenyans have seen the KOKO cans and the signs on dukas. It shifted over 1.5 million Kenyan households from the use of charcoal and kerosene. I remember my first encounter with KOKO when visiting my aunt in Nairobi during the holidays. At home we usually cooked githeri using charcoal, but my aunt used a stove I had never seen before. It was part of the KOKO system, a combination of bioethanol fuel and modern cookstoves designed to provide a cleaner and more efficient alternative to charcoal. It not only prevented the falling of 90,000 trees and the emission of 18,000 tonnes of Carbon Monoxide annually, but also brought about efficiency. As opposed to the normal gas cylinders that are widely used in urban centers, KOKO was affordable and accessible.
