Solid fuel use in households causes about 4.3 million premature deaths annually, and Nigerian researchers are calling for clean cookstove policies to protect health and the environment.
A recent stakeholders’ sensitisation meeting on the “Clean-fuel, clean cookstove study” spotlighted alarming global health figures linked to unclean cooking practices. Experts from New York University Grossman School of Medicine (NYUGSoM), the University of Chicago, and Lagos State University College of Medicine (LASUCOM) implored the Lagos State Government to enact policies supporting a shift to cleaner alternatives.
Professor Ololade Wright, the Implementing Principal Investigator, emphasised the urgency: household air pollution from solid fuel use is a “critical public health issue, resulting in 4.3 million premature deaths yearly,” with approximately 90 million Nigerian households still cooking with solid fuels. The project aims to facilitate the adoption of clean, high-efficiency cookstoves through community mobilisation to reduce harmful exposure and help prevent hypertension in peri-urban Lagos communities.
Project Principal Investigator Professor Gbenga Ogedegbe warned of long-term harms, stating that “the use of firewood results in cognitive decline.” Additionally, Dr. Babatunde Ajayi, General Manager of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), highlighted the broader consequences: household air pollution harms both public health and the environment, including climate change.