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Firewood smoke had affected the health of people in many households. Experts warn that prolonged exposure to firewood smoke is a significant cause of health problems, including respiratory infections, lung diseases such as asthma, and pregnancy-related problems, reports Sade Oguntola.

In many communities in Africa, cooking over an open firewood stove is common. With the women sometimes having their babies strapped to their backs or playing around the cooking area, family meals are prepared in sometimes stuffy kitchens filled with smoke.

Ironically, cooking over firewood, roasting of garri or smoking fish, because of the smoke and heat produced, have harmful health implications for women and the children strapped to their backs.

The burning of firewood in three-stone stoves is an inefficient process which results in the release of heavy smoke containing large amounts of toxic pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and fine particles that can get into the eyes and respiratory system, where they can cause health problems such as burning eyes, runny nose, and illnesses such as bronchitis.

Unfortunately, firewood is the most dominant fuel used for cooking by most households in the rural communities, thus making children and women more vulnerable to the bad effects of its smoke. Even limited exposure to smoke can be harmful to the elderly and those with chronic health conditions such as asthma.

Incidentally, a study by the Raw Materials Research and Development Council, which assessed firewood demand and supply among rural dwellers, attributed the rise in the incidence of health problems such as coughing, chest pain and eye problems, among rural dwellers to smoke emitted by firewood.

The study, which collected data from 360 firewood collectors, sellers, buyers and users, showed that the frequency of cooking and the time taken to cook meals also compounded the gravity of these ailments.

Besides, a study reported at the 18th Africa Region Union Conference in Togo that women and their helpers who engaged in the trade of fish smoking were at high risk of developing chronic chest and respiratory infections/diseases from inhaling unhealthy smoke from the fire used for fish roasting.

Sadly, about 5 per cent of these women and their aides had already developed chronic respiratory problems and many frequently experienced respiratory problems because the environment was often enveloped in smoke. Usually, the women and their aids were there for long hours inhaling the smoke, sweating from the heat and experiencing burns from the fire.

Nevertheless, Sola Olapade, a professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, United States of America, said a similar study carried out in Olorisa Oko and Ajibade, two rural communities in Oyo State, found that exposure to smoke from firewood was a problem in three out of every five homes where asthmatics lived.

No doubt, people are allergic to all kinds of things, including mango trees, grass, dust mites, cats, dogs and cockroaches. Exposure to these allergens might make their asthma to flare up or become worse. However, Professor Olapade stated that one surprising finding from the community study aimed at determining how common asthma was among Yorubas living in the South-western part of Nigeria was that 60 per cent of asthmatics lived in homes where firewood and other kinds of agricultural residues were used as fuel for cooking in poorly ventilated kitchens.

According to him, "when people cook in closed environment and get exposed to the smoke from burning firewood, it causes a lot of damage to their lungs."

Regrettably, on a global scale, cooking with firewood contributes about two million deaths each year and about 30 per cent of these deaths are in children who are less than five years of age because they get exposed to irritants from firewood smoke.

Usually, when a mother is cooking, her small child is on her back and if they are able to stand, they stand next to the mother. "You can imagine the extent of exposure of children to smoke during cooking. Their respiratory systems are still developing and they breathe in more air (and air pollution) per kilogramme of body weight than adults. Basically, the smoke causes damage in the lung by destroying the protective system and also causing lower respiratory infections such as pneumonia," he declared.

Howbeit, he remarked that the health impact of cooking with firewood was a double jeopardy in poor people. "What makes it alarming is that smoke from firewood affects poor people who have poor nutrition the more because they do not have good antioxidant defence against the oxidants in the smoke," he stated.

"If you look at women that cook using firewood, although they have never smoked, they could develop chronic obstructive lung disease. This is a disease that is commonly seen in people who smoke. In fact, some studies that looked at the degree of exposure to indoor smoke equate it to smoking one packet of cigarette a day for about 50 years. That is why you have women who have never smoked but because they cook with firewood everyday, end up developing emphysema and lung cancer just by being exposed to smoke in an enclosed place.

Certainly, smoke from any source is bad for the health of anyone, including babies still in their mother's womb. According to Professor Olapade, "exposure to biomass smoke is just like cigarette smoke. As such, it has the same negative effect on pregnancy outcomes. It could lead to premature delivery, low-weight weight babies and still births."

Unfortunately, many people are not aware of the dangers posed by smoke from firewood to their health. For instance, at Olorisa Oko and Ajibade, "most people were shocked that using firewood to cook was exposing their wives and children to danger and that some unanticipated deaths could actually be due to the pollutants present in smoke," Professor Olapade stated.

He explained that although the World Health Organisation's guideline on particulate matter in indoor air puts it at 50 microgrammes, "in some of these houses, the particulate matter in the indoor air was between 20 and 100 times higher than the average level. In addition, the carbon monoxide levels in some of these kitchens were as high as 200, although there should be none because carbon monoxide is poisonous."

Sadly, "when you look at the symptoms those children and mothers have, they range from headache, which is what you develop from exposure to carbon monoxide; chest tightness; shortness of breath; runny nose and burning eyes,"he remarked.

"Nonetheless, when we gave them improvised cooking stoves and educational pamphlets on bad effects of firewood smoke, the indoor air quality came closer to the level stipulated by the World Health Organisation's guideline. Also, incidences of headache, shortness of breath, chest tightness and burning eyes dramatically reduced."

Professor Olapade suggested that some precautions to take to prevent breathing in firewood smoke included cooking in spaces that are well ventilated and preventing children coming to cooking areas. He urged the government to enforce building policies that would ensure good ventilation of homes as well as provision of cleaner cooking fuels.

"Looking at the Millennium Development Goals, when you overlay the problem of indoor air pollution from biomass, reducing maternal mortality will actually be a lot easier to achieve with a two prong attack on improving access to prenatal care and eliminating exposure to indoor pollution," he concluded.