Expert raises alarm over 95,300 smoke-related deaths in Nigeria

Salihu spoke on the topic; ‘Clean Energy Investments and Partnership to Power Nigeria’s Development’ at the 2013 annual general meeting of Global fund for Women Grantees Network Ltd (GFWGN).She said it was unfortunate that the affected Nigerians were mostly women and children since they are the ones often exposed to the wooden smoke.“According to the […]

Salihu spoke on the topic; ‘Clean Energy Investments and Partnership to Power Nigeria’s Development’ at the 2013 annual general meeting of Global fund for Women Grantees Network Ltd (GFWGN).
She said it was unfortunate that the affected Nigerians were mostly women and children since they are the ones often exposed to the wooden smoke.
“According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), smoke from cooking with wood cause 95,300 deaths, mostly women and children in Nigeria every year. This is as a result of the fact that women and children are the ones often exposed to cooking with wood. Experts said smoke inhaled from cooking three meals a day by traditional three-stone fire, for instance is equal to smoking three packets (60 sticks) of cigarettes.
The cigarettes have filters in them to regulate the rate at which smoke is inhaled by smokers but in the case of those who cook with firewood, there is no filter, thus, they are exposed directly to the smoke which goes directly into their lungs,” Salihu said.
Salihu lamented that another negative effect of cooking with firewood in Nigeria is the fact that the nation is losing its forest by three percent on daily basis, noting that the problem appears to be more pronounced in some northern states, especially Borno.
She added that cooking with firewood does not even come cheaply as people erroneously believe. “Beyond health, increasing wood use costs poor families money that can be used for food, education and health and contributes to deforestation. Nigeria loses three percent of its forest cover every year,” Salihu said.
She urged Nigerians to start embracing alternative cooking methods which she described as clean cooking energy methods that involve the use of “technologies, fuels, improved and efficient wood, charcoal burning stoves, cooking gas as well as equipment and practices that minimize adverse health and environmental impacts associated with traditional cooking with firewood.”