A professor of Medicine and Pathology, Abdullah Abba has said that scientific studies conducted in Africa have shown that women and children are at a greater risk of dying from household air pollution.
Abbah stated this in Uyo yesterday while delivering a paper on the topic, “Biomass, Air Pollution and the Lungs” at the 19th annual scientific conference of the Nigerian Thoracic Society (NTC). This year’s conference had as its theme, “Household Air Pollution and Lung Health”.
According to the professor, women and children are more susceptible to pollution resulting from the use of bio-fuels as sources of energy for domestic cooking, adding that bio-fuels includes firewood, stoves and charcoal among others.
Abbah said that over 4million people die annually from indoor air pollution across the world with Africa recording the highest number of deaths especially among women and children, who are exposed to air pollution in the kitchen.
He stated that pregnant women expose themselves and their babies to the risk of contracting lung-related diseases and infections due to the fact that they inhale dangerous gases into their lungs during cooking with firewood and other kinds of bio-fuels.
The university don urged the federal government to provide alternative clean energy sources for domestic cooking especially by reducing the cost of cooking gas and providing constant electricity for the use of electric cookers in Nigerian homes.
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