Cooking and coughing: Respiratory illnesses plague Kenya as more people burn firewood to save money

Nairobi, Kenya — Piles of firewood surrounded Jane Muthoni in her sheet-iron kitchen. The roof, walls and wooden pillars were covered in soot. As she blew out the flame for tea, the 65-year-old was enveloped in smoke.

“I’ve used firewood my whole life,” she said. “Sometimes I tend to cough from inhaling the smoke and my eyes itch, but there is nothing I can do about it. I don’t even have money to buy coal.”

She was unaware of the lasting impact on her health. But the experts are.

Respiratory illnesses have been the most prevalent illnesses in Kenya in recent years and are on the rise, according to government authorities, with 19.6 million cases reported last year.

The burning of biomass, such as firewood, is the biggest contributor to these diseases, said Evans Amukoye, a scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute’s respiratory diseases research center.

“You may experience itchy eyes, cough when inhaling smoke, and in severe cases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, you find that you cannot walk because your lungs become tense,” Amukoye said. The disease is caused by indoor or outdoor air pollution or smoking.

Data from the Kenyan Ministry of Health shows that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is responsible for 1.7% of deaths in the country.

People in low-income areas are diagnosed with respiratory illnesses later in life compared to middle-class people in urban areas with better awareness and access to healthcare, Amukoye said.

Families in informal neighborhoods and rural areas are most affected, as most people rely on firewood or fossil fuels for cooking. Women hunched over a smoldering fire in tents to drink tea or snacks is a common sight in the capital, Nairobi, and beyond.

The government’s 2022 Demographic and Health Survey revealed a high dependence on traditional cooking fuels in Kenya. The number of families relying on biomass as firewood increased from 4.7 million to 6.7 million between 2020 and 2022.

Economist Abraham Muriu said he believes Kenyans’ increased use of firewood is a result of economic shocks caused by reduced incomes during the COVID pandemic and continued high inflation.

“Firewood is easily available and is the most affordable fossil fuel, especially in rural areas,” said Muriu.

He said more Kenyans in urban areas were also likely to turn to using firewood or charcoal as prices and taxes increase. Blackened bags of charcoal are for sale openly at some intersections in Nairobi, and the search for firewood across the country is constant.

Mercy Letting, 33, a businesswoman from Nairobi’s Kasarani neighborhood, used charcoal to prepare meals for customers in the first six months after opening her restaurant early last year. Over time, this affected her health.

“I’m asthmatic, so whenever I used charcoal to cook, the smoke always caused an attack, forcing me to spend part of my daily earnings on medication. This happened five times,” she said.

She found it expensive, spending 4,500 Kenyan shillings ($33) a month to buy a bag of charcoal. “I ended up having to buy an ‘eco-friendly’ stove, which has been great for my health and good for business.” Requires less coal.

Letting also purchased an induction burner, which she says is faster to cook and more efficient, as it only uses 50 Kenyan shillings ($0.38) a day on electricity.

While businesses look for “clean cooking” options, high prices continue to be an obstacle for many Kenyans.

“If we want to offer a truly clean and efficient solution to users across Africa, it needs to be affordable for them,” said Chris McKinney, commercial director at BURN Manufacturing, which describes itself as a “modern stove” company based on surroundings of Nairobi.

“This has been the main barrier to growth for us,” he said.

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