Child health implications of transitioning from charcoal to electric cooking in Uganda: a qualitative stakeholder study

Background Household air pollution and cooking-related injuries from charcoal use remain major contributors to preventable child morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries, including Uganda. Electric cooking (e-cooking) could reduce children’s exposure to these risks, yet adoption remains limited and the policy conditions shaping this transition are poorly understood from a child health perspective. Objective To explore policy stakeholder perspectives on transitioning from charcoal to e-cooking in Uganda and to examine perceived implications for child health related to household air pollution and cooking-related injuries. Methods We conducted a qualitative stakeholder study using structured interviews with 51 policy and energy-sector stakeholders involved in e-cooking promotion, regulation, research, financing and implementation in Uganda. Participants were purposively sampled from government, development partners, civil society organisations, the private sector, academic institutions and experienced end users. Data were collected in Kampala between September and November 2023 and analysed using Creswell’s six-step qualitative analysis approach. Reporting followed the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research. Results Stakeholders perceived e-cooking as safer than charcoal and associated with reduced smoke exposure and cooking-related hazards. However, potential child health benefits, particularly reduced exposure to household air pollution and cooking-related injuries, are viewed as largely indirect and contingent on energy and policy system-level conditions. Key barriers included unreliable electricity infrastructure, high upfront appliance costs, concerns about electricity affordability, fragmented policy frameworks and entrenched sociocultural cooking practices. Child health considerations were rarely described as explicit drivers of energy or clean cooking policy. Conclusions E-cooking is viewed by policy stakeholders as a promising upstream child health intervention to reduce children’s exposure to household air pollution and cooking-related injuries in Uganda. Realising these child health benefits will require improved electricity reliability, greater affordability of e-cooking technologies and explicit integration of child health objectives into energy and clean cooking policy.