Beyond air pollution: a national assessment of cooking-related burns in Ghana

Household energy transitions have the potential to reduce the burden of several health outcomes but have narrowly focused on those mediated by reduced exposure to air pollution, despite concerns about the burden of injury outcomes. The goal of this study was to describe the country-level incidence of severe cooking-related burns in Ghana and identify household-level risk factors for adults and children. In 2020, the study’s researchers administered a national household energy use survey to the primary cook in 7,389 households across 370 enumeration areas in Ghana. Using a nationally representative sample, the researchers found that solid fuel use doubled the odds of cooking-related burns compared with liquified petroleum gas (LPG). The results of this study, if weighed against the LPG explosion risk associated with LPG delivery and unsafe use, may inform the government of Ghana’s plan to provide LPG access to 50% of the population.

Published August 6, 2024

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