For di African continent wey get over one billion people, to cook food na di same as to bend down near open fire or smoky stove, dey breathe toxic smoke wey dey spoil pesin health small small.

Di kitchen, wey suppose be di heart of di house, don turn to wahala for health. E be like silent danger wey people no dey notice until di worst thing go happen.

Di numbers no lie. Four out of five families for Africa still dey use fuel like wood, charcoal or animal dung to cook, na wetin di International Energy Agency (IEA) talk for one report wey dem publish for July.

Di report, wey dem call 'Universal Access to Clean Cooking in Africa,' talk say dis kain cooking dey cause over 800,000 people to die early every year because of di air pollution wey dey happen for house. Women and pikin na dem dey suffer pass.

Apart from di health wahala, di problem still dey affect di environment and economy, and e no easy to solve.

But di IEA report talk say Africa fit change dis story for di next 15 years if dem fit follow di example of other developing countries wey don face di same problem before.

"If we fit move to clean cooking solutions, di benefit go plenty. E go reduce emissions, save di continent biodiversity by stopping tree cutting for firewood," na wetin Syrine El Abed, wey be IEA East and Central Africa programme manager, talk give TRT Afrika.

Di report also show di first full mapping of clean-cooking infrastructure for sub-Saharan Africa, plus di cost and accessibility of di solutions.

Dem track di result of di Summit on Clean Cooking for Africa wey happen for May 2024 for Paris, wey mobilise over $2.2 billion from public and private sectors.

Out of di money, dem don already release more than $470 million.

"Our agreement don help us get one voice for di problem. We dey also make sure say di people wey dis change go affect no go suffer too much," na wetin Lerato Mataboge, African Union commissioner for infrastructure and energy, talk give TRT Afrika.

For 2024, African Union hold summit for Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where African leaders promise to make sure say clean energy go reach 300 million people for di continent under di Dar es Salaam Energy Declaration.

For di Africa Energy Summit, wey African Development Bank support, leaders agree to energy transformation with over $50 billion support from global partners.

Di IEA report warn say di environmental risk dey high, as di cutting of trees for firewood and charcoal dey cause deforestation and dey threaten biodiversity.

But di good news be say change dey come. "Some countries don start to ban tree cutting for firewood. But work still dey to make sure say di policy reach other countries," na wetin El Abed talk.

Di IEA roadmap show say if Africa fit achieve clean cooking for everybody, over 4.7 million premature deaths fit reduce from now till 2040.

Di plan dey target 80 million people every year to get clean cooking solutions, wey go make di process seven times faster than di current speed.

For women and girls, di benefit no be only health. Dem fit save about two hours every day, wey dem fit use for school or work. Di time wey dem go save fit reach di total work time of di whole labour force for Brazil today.

Di economic impact go big too: 460,000 new permanent jobs fit dey for di clean-cooking value chain, especially for fuel distribution, retail services, and equipment maintenance. Dis number dey almost di same as di electric utility workers for Africa.

Dis transformation go need $37 billion investment till 2040, wey be about $2 billion every year, or less than 0.1% of wetin di world dey spend on energy every year.

"Di money go cover di cost of household equipment like stove, fuel cylinder, and canister, plus infrastructure like fuel distribution network, storage terminal, and electricity grid upgrade," na wetin di IEA report talk.

Mataboge talk say di key na coordination. "We need to agree among ourselves so dat each country go get strategy wey fit solve di problem, because di solution go dey different for each country," she talk give TRT Afrika.