Africa

This study supports SDGs 3 and 6 by showing that elementary WASH interventions alone were insufficient in reducing the prevalence of stunting, anaemia, and diarrhoea in children in rural Zimbabwe; these findings call for greater investment into, and scale-up of, WASH programmes in rural settings, in order to achieve more meaningful improvements in child health outcomes.

This chapter advances goals 9 and 7 by discussing sustainable solar energy generation and storage for rural sub-Saharan Africa in the context of the ‘circular economy’.

The use of biomass for energy production is one way to ensure energy security and address the environmental issues related to the use of fossil fuels in developing countries. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need electric power and thermal energy for their activities. In Burkina Faso, this type of thermal energy is generally produced by SMEs from firewood. However, cashew companies produce a large amount of waste (shell, press cake, nut shell liquid) which can be converted into fuel. Separating the cashew nut from the shell requires two energy-intensive steps: roasting and drying.

Deforestation worldwide could have important consequences for diet quality and human nutrition given the numerous ecosystem services that are provided by forests and biodiverse landscapes. Yet, empirical research assessing the links between deforestation and diets is lacking. In this study, we examined the association between deforestation and diet diversity among children using geolocated Demographic and Health Survey data for 33,777 children across 15 countries of sub-Saharan Africa coupled with remotely-sensed data on forest cover loss.