At least 23,000 Kenyans die annually as a result of household air pollution from cooking with fossil fuels such as kerosene and firewood.
The Kenya Medical Research Institute has warned that cooking using kerosene and biomass results in high levels of pollutants.
These including respirable particulate matter and other toxic chemicals, gasses and compounds that are detrimental to health.
“Cooking with these fuels has been calculated to be like burning 100 cigarettes each hour, resulting in HAP levels more than 100 times World Health Organisation safe levels,” Kemri director Sam Kariuki said.
According to Kariuki, research has shown HAP is causally associated with ischaemic heart disease, stroke, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer.
He said there is also emerging evidence for associations with low birth weight, tuberculosis, cataracts and a range of other cancers.
“The best option for scale of clean cooking is with Liquefied Petroleum Gas, other options, such as electricity, being a longer term aspiration,” Kariuki said.
“LPG is readily available, cost effective, liked by households and importantly does not require an established infrastructure for supply. In addition, LPG is clean at source with little or no emissions for products of incomplete combustion (HAP).”
Data shows 3.2 million people die each year globally from exposure to household air pollution including 237,000 children under the age of five.
In Sub-Saharan Africa 683,984 people die annually from HAP, accounting for 8.9 per cent of all deaths.
This is more than HIV/AIDS (8.4 per cent) and malaria (7.8 per cent).
With 38 million healthy life years lost in the region, HAP accounts for almost eight per cent of the total burden of disease in Sub-Saharan Africa.
On Tuesday, an initiative to help scale adoption of clean energy in Sub-Saharan African was launched in a collaboration led by KEMRI.
The initiative aims to reduce respiratory and cardiovascular diseases from exposure to household air pollution.