Women are disproportionately affected by traditional cooking methods which include cooking using the three stone open fire and with metallic stoves, both of which are inefficient. The fact once affected as a result of using these traditional cooking methods, women miss out on other opportunities that would have improved their lot in the community, and have to wait for affirmative action interventions to catch up. Harmful gases produced from unclean and traditional cooking methods such as methane, carbon monoxide and black carbon have been reported to contribute a lot to the country’s disease burden especially among women and girls. Using clean cooking solutions will support the Government to restore Kenya’s forest cover to 10 per cent from the current 7 per cent. Furthermore, household air pollution brought about cooking using inefficient technologies is a key health risk factor to Kenyans.

Source: The Star May 18, 2021 05:48 UTC