Unsafe drinking water and household air pollution are major causes of illness and death around the world. This is also the case in Rwanda, where most people living in rural areas drink untreated water and burn firewood on open stoves to cook their meals. More than 80% of Rwandans rely on firewood as their primary fuel source.
After neonatal disorders, pneumonia and diarrhoeal disease are the two leading killers of children under five years of age in Rwanda. Unsafe drinking water is the leading cause of diarrhoeal disease. And cooking indoors on open-fire stoves, with fuel such as wood and charcoal, has been linked to pneumonia, low birth weight and impaired development in children.
...