{UAH} Bwanika & MPs :Africa’s hidden killer causes 600 000 deaths every year

Africa's hidden killer causes 600 000 deaths every year

Jun 05 2015 12:21 Matthew le Cordeur

Graça Machel at the launch of the Africa Progress Panel report on Africa. (Photo: Matthew le Cordeur)

 

Cape Town – Africans are dying every day because they don't have access to reliable and clean energy, a report released on Friday revealed.

The Africa Progress Panel released the report Power, People, Planet: Seizing Africa's Energy and Climate Opportunities at the World Economic Forum on Africa (WEF on Africa) on Friday. The report highlights that 621 million Africans do not have access to electricity, and that it would take Africa until 2080 to achieve universal electricity access.

INFOGRAPHIC: Shocking facts about Africa's power crisis
DOWNLOAD: Full report

It also showed that 600 000 Africans are killed every year by air pollution caused by the use of solid biomass for cooking.

"Energy deficits harm Africans' health by undermining health services," the report said. "They also contribute to one of Africa's most virulent but least visible epidemics, death and illness from the use of biomass fuels such as firewood and charcoal, a major source of household air pollution."

This was one of the reasons why the report says accelerated action is needed to unlock Africa's potential as a global low-carbon superpower.

"We categorically reject the idea that Africa has to choose between growth and low-carbon development," said Kofi Annan, chairperson of the Africa Progress Panel. "Africa needs to utilise all of its energy assets in the short term, while building the foundations for a competitive, low-carbon energy infrastructure."

AUDIO: Graça Machel launches report at WEF on Africa

Graça Machel, president of the Foundation for Community Development and the widow of former president Nelson Mandela, said 2015 is "the year of the climate" where sustainable development goals would be tabled. "It is the year where we are going to make huge commitments about how, in the next three decades and beyond, we are going to do things differently in the right way and in an accelerated way."

Former International Monetary Fund MD Michel Camdessus said the planets are aligning in 2015 and that Africa is at an "unprecedented crossroads of opportunity" because three conferences this year have focused on climate change and development in Africa, which will catalyse action.

Poor people spend $10bn a year on energy

The report shows that households living on less than $2.50 a day collectively spend $10bn every year on energy-related products, such as charcoal, paraffin, candles and torches.

The report says that "indoor air pollution is a hidden killer".

"These fuels are often smoky and typically used on open fires in poorly ventilated homes, exposing people to carbon monoxide, toxic particulate matter and formaldehyde.

"Similarly, smoky unvented wicks in simple lamps that burn kerosene (paraffin) and in candles can result in substantial black carbon smoke emissions.

"Women and children face higher levels of exposure because of the time they spend cooking and inside the home.

"The poor suffer most: the less expensive fuel options they use are typically less efficient and produce more smoke, elevating the health risks. Simple homes built with mud, thatch, and animal skins rarely have a chimney and if there is a chimney it is usually a simple vent with no flue to draw air."

GRAPH: Africa's hidden killer: deaths caused by household air pollution from solid biomass compared with other risk factors

Source: Power, People, Planet: Seizing Africa's Energy and Climate Opportunities

GRAPH: Many of Africa's poorest households would be unable to afford a basic electricity supply (the cost of 500kwh of electricity as a share of income for the poorest households).

Source: Power, People, Planet: Seizing Africa's Energy and Climate Opportunities

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