8 hours Ago By Janet Ogundepo
Janet OgundepoTo protect children from developing chronic non-infectious diseases, such as asthma, pneumonia and other allergic conditions, chest doctors have urged parents to keep them away from firewood flames.The experts noted that inhaling smoke from firewood can damage children’s developing lungs, weaken their immune system, and lead to long-term respiratory illnesses.Their warning comes on the heels of a recent statement by the Minister of Women Affairs, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, that over 80,000 Nigerian women die from firewood and traditional cooking stove toxins annually.
Also, in January, the President of the Africa Development Bank, Akinwunmi Adeshina, said that about 600,000 women and children in Africa die every year from cooking with firewood and charcoal.Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation states that firewood smoke is the third killer of women and children in Nigeria.The health agency added that 93,300 deaths from inhalation of smoke from traditional biomass stoves occur in Nigeria.
Findings further reveal that accessibility and affordability of firewood, high electricity costs and rising prices of liquefied petroleum gas, are reasons many homes still made use of firewood and charcoal.A 2024 report by the National Bureau of Statistics further reveals that 67.8 per cent of Nigerian households use firewood.
It further noted that one in every five households used charcoal and 19.4 per cent used LPG.The rising price of cooking gas is also reported to have made some households return to using firewood.
PUNCH Healthwise reports that the price of cooking gas rose by 114 per cent in 16 months.Commenting on the dangers of firewood smoke on children, a paediatric pulmonologist, Peter Ubuane, warned that cooking with firewood releases high levels of harmful air pollutants that endanger human health.He added that firewood smoke was more harmful to children because their lungs were still developing, adding that inhaling the tiny particles could lead to lung infections such as pneumonia.
The doctor added, “Cooking with firewood generates high levels of harmful air pollutants which are harmful to our health, especially to the growing lungs of children. Such substances include particulate matter, which are very tiny particles, so tiny to be visible to the eye but they are breathed in through the respiratory tract into the lungs and even into the bloodstream.“In the lungs, they cause various degrees of immediate and long-term harm.
These particles are known to make children more susceptible to lung infections such as pneumonia because they weaken the natural defences along the respiratory tract thus making it easier for germs like bacteria and viruses to overwhelm these defences and cause infections.”The chest doctor further explained that children with existing asthma conditions were more likely to suffer frequent asthma attacks when exposed to firewood smoke.Ubuane added, “They also increase children’s risk of developing chronic non-infectious diseases like asthma and other allergic conditions.
Children who already have asthma and are exposed to cooking with firewood are likely to have their asthma symptoms poorly controlled, making them at increased risk of more frequent asthma attacks, with unpalatable consequences like school absenteeism and psychosocial problems.”The paediatrician also noted that children, adults, and unborn babies were at risk of developing lung diseases from inhaling the carbon monoxide emitted during firewood burning.“Another important substance released into the air from cooking with firewood is carbon monoxide which is also harmful to the respiratory tract and is also known to increase the risk of lung diseases like asthma.
These and other harmful substances released from burning firewood have several other harmful effects on the bodies of everyone who breathes them in – adults and children and even the unborn child!” he said.The child health expert advocated the use of cleaner fuel options such as cooking gas and electricity, warning that those who rely on dirty cooking fuels face a higher risk of long-term ill health.In households where firewood was still in use, the pulmonologist advised that cooking should be done in open spaces to minimise exposure to harmful smoke.
Also, a pulmonology Senior Registrar, Dr Temitope Ayanda-Fapohunda, said the gases released from burning firewood had been linked to airway diseases in both adults and children.Dr. Temitope FapohundaShe noted that the fumes were particularly harmful to children, as they irritated the airways and could impair lung development.
“They have been associated with causing disease of the airways in adults, and particularly in children. So these fumes are irritating to the airways. Children do not have their lungs fully developed, so those who are exposed to these harmful biomass fumes, can impact their lung development.
So it could prevent them from reaching the peak of where their lungs are supposed to develop because of the impact of those harmful fumes.“At the same time, it could increase their risk of developing infections in their airways and the lungs because the harmful effects of these gases affect the capacity of the lungs and the airways to protect themselves from harmful germs.“So they may start having more frequent infections, which will be a burden to the family because of the cost of treating those infections and then missing school because they are ill.
So that could also affect their overall school performance, their cognitive impairment,” Ayanda-Fapohunda said.The chest doctor warned that children exposed to firewood smoke were at higher risk of developing allergic airway diseases, particularly asthma, and could experience limited lung growth and function.She urged households still using firewood to adopt cleaner cooking methods.
For families unable to switch from firewood, she advised minimising children’s exposure by ensuring cooking is done in well-ventilated areas or preferably outdoors.On what children with long-term exposure to firewood flames could do, Ayanda-Fapohunda advised, “If they are having complaints and symptoms, they should be promptly taken to a health facility so that they can be assessed. If it is available, they will benefit from having lung function tests to see how their lungs are working and then to monitor them as well so that even if they don’t have symptoms and there’s some impairment in their lung function, it can be a way to, advocate for the child’s parents to seek an alternative source of cooking for should be explored in the home.
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