Over $4bn Required To Stop Yearly Death Of 600,000 Women, Children In Africa—AfDB

President of the Africa Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwunmi Adesina on Monday said that annual funding of $4bn is required to stop the death of approximately 600,000 women and children in Africa.

Speaking at the 2025 two-day Africa Energy Summit in Dar Salam, Tanzania themed: “Mission 300”, Adesina said lack of access to clean cooking sources claims the lives of 300,000 children and 300,000 women annually.

Adesina attributed the death to ailments as a result of smoke from used firewood and charcoal.

“Another thing that is part of the agenda is access to clean cooking for women. Today we have 1.2 billion women in Africa without access to clean cooking and we lose 300,000 kids every single year that their mothers carry on their backs because of lack of access to clean food because of the secondary effect of smoke.

“We lose 300,000 women also every year. Why should anybody have to die just for trying to cook a decent meal that is taken for granted in other parts of the world? That is not acceptable! In good conscience, we just can’t do that.

“And that’s why a big part of what we’re trying to do is to make sure that women in Africa can cook decently without having to have smoke; without their kids having to die because of that.” 

Speaking on AfDB’s effort in addressing the survival challenges in Africa, he said out of the required annual $4bn to ameliorate the situation, AfDB has committed $2bn to this course.

“We had a meeting together with the International Energy Agency, and we said we needed to raise $4bn a year. 

“It’s all going to take, $4bn a year. And we at the African Development Bank committed to $2bn towards that.

“It is about lives. A lot of time we talk about energy transition, but it is not just about energy transition.

“Already, women in Africa are transitioning life just to be able to cook. It is more about dignity as far as I am concerned. Africa must develop with dignity and with pride. Its women must have access to clean cooking solutions,” he said.

Over $4bn Required To Stop Yearly Death Of 600,000 Women, Children In Africa—AfDB is first published on The Whistler Newspaper