Accidents caused by kerosene lamps: New evidence from African household data

The use of kerosene for lighting, cooking, and heating in developing countries is often considered a major health threat as it can cause accidents like thermal injuries, poisonings, fires, or explosions. The evidence to prove this is extremely scarce, though. The present paper is one of the first to investigate the link between kerosene‐based lighting and accidents at the household level. We use survey data from 3,326 nonelectrified households in Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Senegal, and Zambia and observe very heterogeneous kerosene lamp usage rates. In some regions, accidents with kerosene lamps occur in a substantial share of the population, but the absolute incidence is rather low. This article is categorized under: Energy Policy and Planning > Economics and Policy Energy and Development > Economics and Policy