NAIROBI, Kenya, May 16 — Household air pollution caused by the widespread use of firewood, charcoal and other biomass fuels is killing an estimated 27,000 people in Kenya every year, health researchers and energy experts warned at a regional climate forum in Nairobi.

📻 Breaking It Down

The warning comes as lawmakers called for urgent investments in clean cooking technologies across Africa.

The deaths, largely linked to respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, are part of what scientists increasingly describe as a “silent pandemic” unfolding in homes across the continent, where nearly one billion people still rely on polluting fuels for daily cooking.

Speaking during the Regional Parliamentary Seminar on Climate Action and Methane Reduction in Nairobi, public health researcher Willah Nabukwangwa of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) said household air pollution was causing devastating but often overlooked health consequences, particularly for women, children and low-income communities.

📌 What You Need to Know

“Currently nearly one billion people in Africa rely on biomass fuels, including charcoal, firewood and crop residues, for cooking,” Nabukwangwa told lawmakers, scientists and climate experts from 21 African countries gathered in Nairobi.

“The combustion of such fuels results in household air pollution consisting of gases such as methane and carbon monoxide.”

She said Kenya alone records about 27,000 deaths annually linked to household air pollution, while across Africa an estimated 815,000 people die each year from illnesses associated with dirty cooking fuels.

“This is more than malaria and HIV, and we don’t realize that,” said Hamida Kibwana, who moderated the session titled Decentralized Energy Systems as a Pathway for Methane Reduction and Climate Action.

Researchers say the smoke produced from burning biomass fuels penetrates deep into the lungs and bloodstream, increasing the risk of respiratory diseases, stroke, cardiovascular complications, lung cancer and mental health disorders.

Data from the World Health Organization(WHO) shows that around 2.1 billion people worldwide translating to around a quarter of the global population, cook using open fires or inefficient stoves fuelled by kerosene, biomass (wood, animal dung and crop waste) and coal, which generates harmful household air pollution.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya