Gender dimension of cooking a cause for concern – researcher

Women’s traditional role as the gender responsible for household’s cooking makes them susceptible to being harmed by household pollution, leading to serious health implications.

Children are also not spared such health consequences, as findings from a recent research show that children born in households that use firewood or charcoal as main cooking sources are shorter on average after birth.

These health implications depend on the type of energy being used – firewood and charcoal – said Professor Charlotte Wrigley-Asante, Head-Department of Geography and Resource Development, University of Ghana (UG).

“You find more women cooking than men, and as they cook you also find their children by them due to the bond and attachment. Carbon emissions from solid fuel have serious health implications on them,” she elaborated.

According to her, a recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report highlights that about 28,000 deaths are attributed to poor ambience, air-pollution and household air-pollution.

It also underscored growing concerns of poor air-quality and its associated health implications, both within and outside households.

While admitting that in Ghana wood and charcoal continue to be the dominant sources of fuel for cooking at the household level, she advocated the adoption of cleaner cooking technologies. “I urge all households to adopt better alternatives to the traditional cook stoves, such as the use of electric pressure cookers with improved energy”.

Citing a Ghana Living Standards survey, she disclosed that close to about a third – 34.1 percent of households in the country – continue using charcoal as their main source of fuel for cooking.

She added that firewood accounts for about 33.3 percent, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) gas 25 percent and electricity is just 0.3 percent.

“Others also use kerosene, sawdust and animal waste,” the researcher further noted.

She expressed worry that the majority of people continue to use fuel classified as inefficient – cook stoves that emit excessive carbon dioxide and black carbons which have serious health implications for humans, particularly women.

But there are also special and geographical differences in terms of rural and urban settings.

While highlighting some of the health implications associated with the traditional clocking methods and energy being used an at the household level, she noted that several studies have shown that household air pollution is directly linked to respiratory tract cancers, chronic lung diseases and increased rate of adverse maternal outcomes – such as hypertensive disorders during pregnancy, low birth rate and still-birth among others.

The professor made these revelations at the final stakeholder dissemination workshop on Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) Phase 2 Project- Ghana organised by the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) held in Accra.

The MECS initiative’s objective is to unearth the willingness of households to adopt cooking technologies like the use of electric pressure cookers, which is in line with the sustainable development goal 7 that focuses on affordable, reliable and clean energies for all.

It also aims to stimulate discussions leading to recommendations and suggestions that will encourage and enable households to adopt the same in order to improve the health and wellbeing of everyone, particularly women and children in poorer households.

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