Despite the rise of air-borne diseases and an alarming impact of indoor pollution on the general public and particularly little children, Nigerians may be underestimating the severity of the impact of indoor air pollution.
In Nigeria, major sources of air pollution include tailpipe exhaust from ill-maintained automobiles, smoke from open burning, diesel and petrol generators, road dust, factory wastes and soot from the use of biomass-fuelled cook stoves.
Air pollution occurs both indoors and outdoors. Though, Nigerians often pay attention only to outdoor air pollution. Meanwhile, indoor air pollution is equally as harmful as outdoor air pollution.
“Indoor air pollution is responsible for 2.7 percent of the global burden of disease,” according to a recent report by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Indoor air pollution is the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of the air in the indoor environment within a home or facility and the quality of indoor air is often determined by various factors.
It is in recognition of the dangers of indoor air pollution especially on new born children that a leading downstream Company, OVH Energy decided to embark on a campaign to sensitise the general public on the dangers of indoor pollution and the need to adopt clean energy for cooking purposes.
The company recently began a campaign titled “Clean Energy 100”. OVH Energy partnered with World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers – Lagos Hub to educate pregnant women at the Ajeromi-Ifelodun Community Hospital, Apapa, Lagos on the importance of using clean energy for cooking and went a step further to donate 100 filled O-Gas 6KG cooking cylinders to these pregnant women to ensure their children are not exposed to pollution when born, with plans to reach over 1,000 more pregnant women in the next couple of months.
The Company also commissioned the installation of monitoring devices to assess emission performance and patterns to further drive usage and adoption in this class of women.
“Nigeria needs to be become aggressive in tackling air pollution, adopting measures that will promote clean energy. Thankfully, the provision of small sized LPG stoves like 3KG and 6KG by companies like OVH Energy (O-Gas) make LPG more affordable for the average man. Sensitization campaigns backed up with actions such as has been demonstrated by OVH Energy is a step in the right direction,” the company said.
According to the company, more efforts like this are required if Nigerians are to become fully aware of the dangers of indoor pollution and act to reduce the menace.
“There would be greater benefits for all if a national policy is in place to accelerate the adoption of LPG and to address the challenges of supply, regulation, distribution and affordability of this clean cooking energy.” It states.
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) has been adjudged to be a cleaner source of cooking energy and has the potential to change the landscape of household energy utilization in developing countries. Meanwhile, it has substantial potential benefit for health and even in climate protection and plays an important role in reducing household air pollution.
Studies show that an aggressive action on the fight against air pollution is ongoing in several countries including China, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. These countries used to lead as the most polluted regions, with over 1.5 million air-polluted related cases. Proper sensitization on the use of LPG and the actual adoption of it has contributed to the reduction of indoor air pollution in these areas.
ANTHONIA OBOKOH
