Cooking methods used in most Kenyan schools affects health of students and cooking staff, a new study has revealed.
In Kenya, over 90 per cent of schools currently depend on wood fuel for cooking, with an average boarding school consuming a staggering 250 tonnes annually.This reliance has led to dangerously high levels of particulate matter(PM) in the air, far exceeding World Health Organization guidelines.
Speaking at the 14th annual KASH conference, Dr. James Mwitari, a senior research fellow of Environmental Health & Epidemiology and Co-Director of CLEAN-Air (Africa) at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) announced the partnership between The Equity Group Foundation, university of Liverpool and KEMRI meant to evaluate the health impacts of transitioning schools from reliance on wood fuel to clean cooking with Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) under the Equity’s “Clean Cooking Initiative”.
According to Dr Mwitari, these high levels of PM emitted when cooking with wood pose significant health risks to students, teachers, and cooks alike, permeating even beyond the confines of school kitchens into classrooms and playgrounds.
Highlighting the urgency of the situation, he noted, “ongoing school research has shown that the PM 2.5 which is a notorious health damaging pollutant is being produced from the school kitchens that are using biomass in excess of the WHO guidelines thus putting cooks, children and teachers at risk of developing pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases.
He added, “this is in addition to such smoke emitted from school kitchens being a contributing factor to school absenteeism and probably poor cognitive performance of the children.’’
Kenya registers over 23,ooo deaths annually from indoor pollution alone, from pollutants such as firewood and charcoal which is responsible for carbon monoxide pollution.
According to the World Health Organization Air pollution poses significant health risks, in 2020, household air pollution was responsible for an estimated 3.2 million deaths globally including over 237,000 deaths of children under the age of five.
The health issues caused by air pollution presents as ischemic heart disease, diabetes type 2 stroke, lower respiratory infection, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, esophagus cancer, lung cancer.
“Children born from air polluted households are reported to weigh less by 160 grams compared to their counterparts in clean cooking households this is a significant deduction.”
“We are working in all 47 counties and so far, 400 schools have already made the transition to clean cooking,12000 other schools across the country are signed up but are yet to transition.”
Eric Naivasha, Associate Director of Energy, Environment & Climate Change at Equity Group Foundation, emphasized the importance of the initiative.
stating, “Kenya’s education sector alone consumes over 10 million trees annually for kitchen operations, leading to deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, and adverse health outcomes. Our partnership with CLEAN-Air (Africa) will enable us to measure the health impact of clean cooking transitions, contributing to policy dialogue and investment flow in clean cooking interventions.”
This project is in line with the governments vision 2028,Dr Mwitari says, “The vision of transitioning schools to clean cooking fuel by 2025 in tandem with the recent presidential decree and is on course and achievable with collaborative arrangements such as this.”
CLEAN-Air(Africa) is currently engaged in research endeavors focused on evaluating air quality in Kenya and Rwanda, as well as the health and educational impacts of schools transitioning to clean cooking methods utilizing LPG and/or electricity.
The insights garnered from these studies will be disseminated to key stakeholders, including ministries of education, health, and energy to help support scale up of clean cooking initiatives for schools across sub-Saharan Africa by reducing the reliance on biomass fuel.
The initiative seeks to mitigate the adverse effects of air pollution on both children and adults, thereby preventing associated diseases and promoting overall well-being.
