Jane Muthoni, 65, cooks using firewood at her home in Kiambu, Kenya, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Respiratory diseases have been the most prevalent diseases in Kenya for the past several years and are on the rise, according to government authorities, with 19.6 million reported cases last year. Burning biomass such as firewood is the largest contributor to those diseases. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
Jane Muthoni, 65, carries firewood home to prepare breakfast in Kiambu, Kenya, Wednesday, May 22, 2024. Respiratory diseases have been the most prevalent diseases in Kenya for the past several years and are on the rise, according to government authorities, with 19.6 million reported cases last year. Burning biomass such as firewood is the largest contributor to those diseases. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
Jane Muthoni, 65, cleans up utensils at her home in Kiambu, Kenya Wednesday, May 22, 2024. Piles of firewood surrounded Jane Muthoni in her kitchen made of iron sheets. The roof, walls and wooden pillars were covered in soot. As she blew on the flame for tea, the 65-year-old was engulfed in smoke. She was unaware of the lasting toll on her health. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
Evans Amukoye, a Kenya Medical Research Institute principal research scientist at the respiratory diseases research center, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Nairobi, Kenya, Thursday, May 23, 2024. “One can have itchy eyes, coughs while inhaling the smoke, and for serious cases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, you find that you cannot walk as your lungs have become tight,” Amukoye said. The disease is caused by indoor or outdoor air pollution or smoking.(AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
Mercy Letting, 33, prepares a meal outside her restaurant in Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Letting, a businesswoman in Nairobi’s Kasarani neighborhood was using charcoal to make meals for customers in the first six months after opening her restaurant early last year. With time, it affected her health. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
Jane Muthoni, 65, speaks at her home during an interview with The Associated Press in Kiambu, Kenya, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Piles of firewood surrounded Jane Muthoni in her kitchen made of iron sheets. The roof, walls and wooden pillars were covered in soot. As she blew on the flame for tea, the 65-year-old was engulfed in smoke. She was unaware of the lasting toll on her health. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
Jane Muthoni, 65, cooks using firewood at her home in Kiambu, Kenya, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Piles of firewood surrounded Jane Muthoni in her kitchen made of iron sheets. The roof, walls and wooden pillars were covered in soot. As she blew on the flame for tea, the 65-year-old was engulfed in smoke. She was unaware of the lasting toll on her health. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)