My thoughts today are on assessing the use and effects of fuel based lighting in the Solomon Islands today.
It is some years now since I read that a rural health clinic was using kerosene lamps for lighting when delivering babies and in one village a correspondent told me there was no electricity, not even solar lighting, and solely dependent on using expensive kerosene to light homes and do cooking.
How have things changed in 2022, or is the dependency of kerosene the same?
If nothing has changed then I have to be honest and say it reflects badly on past governments considering that fuel costs are expensive and green energy, by the use of solar lighting, is no longer as expensive to use or install, apart from the health risks that using kerosene involves, including the risk of burns, fire and poisoning by the kerosene fumes, which affects very young children.
Will someone reading this letter, please tell me the current situation regarding the continued use of fuel based lighting, or whether solar lighting has brought about the change so needed in rural communities?
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
