Project Syndicate: Death by Dirty Cooking
Kandeh K. Yumkella, member of Sierra Leone’s Parliament and the Pan-African Parliament, and former United Nations under-secretary-general and chair of U.N.-Energy

“Each year, exposure to household air pollution (HAP) kills 4.3 million people — more than HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined. … Failure to address the problem does not reflect inadequate technology or even insufficient resources, but a lack of political will. … Efforts to promote clean cooking have been largely uncoordinated, narrow, and piecemeal, with limited consumer buy-in. A new initiative aims to change this. The World Bank’s Clean Cooking Fund, launched at September’s United Nations climate action summit in New York, will mobilize $500 million to help ensure universal access to clean cooking by 2030. … But, as promising as the CCF is, achieving its goals will require coherent policy strategies, underpinned by a strong and sustained commitment at the national, regional, and global levels. India is one country that has shown such a commitment. … [T]he U.N. should lead the way in advancing a multi-stakeholder approach driven by strong public-private partnerships…” (11/4).