Amref International University promotes modern clean cooking technologies For Health In the Largest Kenyan Informal Settlement

Nairobi, June 16^th 2021: Amref International University (AMIU) in partnership with the University of Liverpool, UK launched a project to promote  new cooking innovations (enhanced cookware) in Nairobi that could help poor households switch from polluting fuels to clean energy for cooking.

The project is part of the CLEAN-Air(Africa) project (www.cleanairafrica.com) for which both Universities are founding members, and was funded by UK FCDO Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programme.

The project was conducted in one of Kenya’s largest informal settlements in Mukuru kwa Njenga. Two new fuel-efficient pots – the flare pan (Fig.1) and the turbo pot (Fig.2) were tested by 300 cooks against their traditional pots (or ‘sufuria’ in Swahili) to identify potential fuel and cost savings from the revolutionary fuel saving designs of the cooking pots.

Figure 1 Flare Pan

Figure 2 Turbo Pot

Dr James Mwitari, the Kenyan lead of the project, commented: “Each pot has the potential to save both time and fuel during cooking, encouraging households to displace concurrent use of polluting fuels such as wood and charcoal.” This so-called ‘fuel stacking’ leads to high levels of health damaging ‘household air pollution’ even in households that have access to clean gas for cooking.

This air pollution is causally related to disease and mortality in African settings reliant on these solid fuels (e.g. firewood or charcoal) and particularly affects women and children due to traditional domestic roles. In Kenya alone, 23,000 premature deaths annually are associated with this cooking smoke.

The project which came to an end on 30^th May 2021 gave an opportunity for the participants to tests the pots. All participants were entered into a raffle to receive either one of the intervention pots or a brand new sufuria pot in appreciation of their participation in the project.

The project received a lot of positive attention from both participants and the wider community with interest expressed by residents for acquisition of the new pots outside the project.  Dr Mwitari reported: “The pots were well liked by the community with some excellent feedback on their potential to save fuel. In fact, we have been approached by a number of people asking where they can buy them.”

Figure 3 Participants picking raffle tickets

Figure 4 Excited participant after being awarded flare pan

The enhanced cooking pot initiative is one of a number of field projects currently being undertaken by CLEAN-Air(Africa) in Kenya, Ghana and Cameroon.  Read More

For more information about the study or any other aspect of the research program please contact either Dr James Mwitari ([email protected]) or Dr Elisa Puzzolo ([email protected]).

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