Clean cooking fuel and technologies should be national priority

Eating is a necessary condition for survival. Since most of the food we eat are cooked, the kitchen, thus, becomes the laboratory where the ingredients of survival are prepared.

However, only three out of 10 Ghanaians have access to clean cooking stoves such as LPG, Gyapa, improved charcoal stove and electric stoves. In rural Ghana, the ratio is 1 out of 10 people. Indeed, it has been estimated that about 16,600 Ghanaians die annually as a result of exposure to unhealthy cooking methods and cookstove.

Due to its importance, Goal seven of the Sustainable Development Goals lay strong emphasis on clean cooking fuels and technologies. This is because there is an empirical evidence that suggests that access to clean cooking fuels and technologies can boost the health of people, save time, especially for women and reduce poverty.

Women generally play the major role in biomass-based energy cooking systems, especially in countries such as Ghana where fuel wood is a major fuel. Women and children suffer the most when it comes to health, as well as the time-losses and physical impacts of fuel collection, processing and transportation. They usually suffer from health impacts and discomforts such as neck- and back ache, bruises and headaches from collecting and transporting fuels and health-related effects from air pollution.

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