As data from around the world show that the number of cancer patients is increasing, some poorer countries are looking for alternatives to cancer-causing fuel sources.
Kenya has seen the introduction of solar-powered cookers that capture the Sun’s rays rather than using wood fires, which have been blamed for 500,000 deaths.
When it comes to cooking, it is an extremely cheap form of solar power because it uses mirrors to focus sunlight to a central point.
Cancer survivor, Eunice Wanjiku, believes it is a much healthier way to cook.
“This cooker is very good,” she says. “Since it was brought here I have stopped using firewood.
“Firewood emits smoke but when I am using the solar cooker, I do not encounter smoke therefore I breathe fresh air.
“The smoke from the firewood is dangerous to breathe. This cooker is good because we stopped cutting trees to get firewood.”
The women can easily and cheaply construct the parabolic cooker by using cement on a metal mesh covered with a mosaic of shiny mirrors.
“So, if you look at the sky, like now it is blue, that is potential for cooking with the sun,” says environmentalist Keziah Ngugi. And because we live in the tropics, the potential is enormous, truly enormous.”
Traditional firewood smoke contains a complex mixture of gases and fine particles, and cancer experts say there are clear links.
Robert Motengo is a radiation oncologist at HCG Hospitalsin Nairobi.
“In relation to cancer, basically this has been linked to some of the respiratory diseases and cancer of the lung as well,” he says.
“A study that was done in the U.S. in 2021 has shown an association between these gases, the greenhouse gases with lung cancer and also worsening the prognosis of cancer in those with breast cancer and even in paediatrics cases.”
When the sun is not strong enough, conventional cooking fuels are needed but the solar stove could go some way to reduce pollution and save lives.