Zawadi
Ali Mjaka (30) has been suffering from eye disease for five years now.
According
to doctors the source of her disease is smoke due to frequent uses of firewood
for cooking.
Despite
all her efforts to seek treatment in various hospitals, Mwanaisha, a mother of
two children and a resident of Unguja Ukuu Unguja South District, is yet to be
cured.
She
complains of swelling eyes with tears whenever she uses firewood for cooking.
Because
of her poverty and inability to afford the costs of gas or electricity for
cooking she is compelled to use firewood as source of energy.
"I
have been suffering from eye infections for more than five years now, I have
visited various hospitals to seek treatment but I have not yet recovered,” she
said.
Zawadi
is not the only rural woman who continues to suffer from the disease due
to the use of firewood for cooking.
Unlike
Zwadi who has been suffering from eye problems, other women who use clean
energy for cooking have never had such a problem.
Maimuna
Zahor (32), a resident of Jozani village in Unguja South, got married two years
ago, but she has a gas stove in her home.
Maimuna
says the life of using gas for cooking has become normal for her and she has
not experienced any health problems so far.
"Gas
consumption is good, I enjoy it, it doesn't pollute but enables me to prepare
food on time. In my two years of marriage now, I have never faced any health
problem,” said Maimuna, a mother of two.
Health
and environmental experts have been encouraging the use of alternative energy
sources such as gas, electricity and biogas for cooking because they reduce by
80 percent the likelihood of a user experiencing health problems and air
pollution.
The
head of the environmental health unit in the Zanzibar Ministry of Health,
Forongo Mtande, acknowledges that the use of firewood for cooking is one of the
main causes of diseases, especially throat, pneumonia, tuberculosis and
heart complications.
Forogo
says firewood smoke is toxic if it penetrates in the human body although its
effects can be observed after a long time.
However,
he says sometimes the effects of using firewood on the user can occur
within a short period.
"There
are many factors that contribute to eye diseases but one of them can be
frequent use of firewood for cooking and the problem is more prevalent in rural
areas where the use of this energy is greater than in urban areas," he
said.
He
added that when smoke enters the eyes they become red and sometimes
the user may experience sight problems if treatment is not found on time.
He
said that the Ministry of Health encourages the use of gas or electricity for
cooking because it is safer with minimum health effects on the user compared
to the use of firewood.
However,
he said there is still a problem of affording the cost of gas and in some
villages the service is not available for those who can afford it.
The
use of firewood not only has health effects for the user but it has also been
proven to be a major source of air pollution.
The
Director of the Zanzibar Environmental Management Authority, Sheha Juma Mjaja,
says smoke from firewood pollutes fresh air in the environment.
"When
smoke from firewood comes in contact with air, it turns into toxins which are
hazardous to environment, animals and human beings," he said.
Thus,
Majaja advises members of the to abandon the use of firewood and should instead
use renewable energy, especially gas for cooking.
Despite
the public positive response to use gas, there is either inadequate
supply of the energy mostly in rural areas.
Omar
Ali Yussuf, a Senior Economic and Marketing Officer from the Zanzibar Utilities
Regulatory Authority (ZURA), says Zanzibar's dependence on the gas market from
Mainland Tanzania is affecting domestic supply, a situation that makes many
areas inaccessible to the service.
"We do not have accurate statistics on the use of gas by the public, but the demand is high.
Although many people continue to use gas to control excessive use of firewood
and charcoal, there are still challenges especially in rural areas where
the consumption is very low,”he said.
Yussuf
added the reason is that there has been increase in gas imports over the past
five years from 300 tones to more than 4,000 tones a year.
"On
the average, out of five households, two use gas for cooking mainly in urban
areas indicating emerging awareness increase,” he said.
He
observed that the problem contributing to the decline of gas consumption in the
rural areas is the limited awareness of the energy use and shortage of
distribution facilities.
"We
shall continue to invest in gas infrastructure, including construction of ports
to ensure that in the next five years, four out of every five households use
gas to reduce environmental degradation. We believe that if this investment is
completed, gas consumption in Zanzibar will increase tremendously,” he
said. (Sources Zanzibar mail)
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