Scaling Up Clean Cooking in Sub-Saharan Africa – ASHES Webinar Series
Scaling up clean cooking in sub-Saharan Africa – A systematic review and multinational studies (CLEAN-Air(Africa) & PURE-AIR)
Reason for concern: 3.8 billion people (49% of the global population) still rely on traditional energy sources to support household needs such as cooking, heating, and lighting. Due to this, household air pollution is a top-ten risk factor for global morbidity and mortality.
The studies presented: Look to address this major public health issue, a systematic
review was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions for reducing household air pollution concentrations and exposures. Evidence was synthesized from in-field measurements of particulate matter (PM2.5) and carbon monoxide (CO) in studies that including cleaner cooking technologies and clean fuels. The NIHR CLEAN-Air(Africa) Global Health Research Group aims to (i) inform national policies to scale access to and adoption of clean household energy, (ii) demonstrate the positive impacts on health and climate from populations switching to clean household fuels and (iii) strengthen health systems to empower community led prevention to fight against household air pollution.
Another multinational study, PURE-AIR, included household and personal exposure monitoring across 8 countries in Asia, Africa and South America. PURE-AIR measurements were used to assess variations in PM2.5 and black carbon levels due to household air pollution, and cooking environment factors that may explain these differences.
