We have been writing quite a lot throughout this month of January about the problems encountered in the school kitchens, as these should be, in theory, closed, due to holidays. Nevertheless, many of the kitchens are still operational, even if no students are attending classes. Several school staff live within the school premises, and they have access to the kitchen, so they are using the institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) to cook their personal meals on a daily basis.
And this is when problems start. No supervision is around from the school offices or management, and when a solution is needed, help can not be provided. The picture below was taken at a secondary school in Kisaasi, that has 7 institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) since 2023. When visiting them today for the free IICS maintenance, we found one of the cooks using a 3-stone fire inside the same kitchen building. She explained that her saucepans had started leaking, so nobody was in the administration block to help her with the money needed for the repairs.
It is a real pity to see her struggling with the smoke. Common sources of air pollution in Uganda include the use of solid fuels in homes like wood, charcoal and dried animal dung. This mixture of air pollution can generate a range of air pollutants which can affect her health in different ways, especially cardiovascular diseases.
Unfortunately, estimates of levels of air pollution show “they are high in Africa and getting worse, especially in urban areas. Levels of air pollution are, on average, three times higher than those observed in high-income regions such as Europe. Overall, 60% of African countries experienced an increase in airborne pollution particles between 2010 and 2019”.
