Access to Clean Cooking Technologies and Solutions in African Households: Does Access to Health Insurance Matter?

This paper examines the influence of household access to health insurance on the adoption of clean cooking fuels in African households, using nationally representative microdata from the 2022 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). While previous research has mainly concentrated on income, education, and infrastructure as key drivers of household energy transitions, the role of health security remains less explored. To fill this gap, the study employs logit models with marginal effects to evaluate how health insurance coverage impacts the likelihood of adopting clean, non-smoke-producing fuels such as LPG, electricity, and biogas. The findings indicate that households with health insurance are significantly more likely to use clean cooking fuels, with a positive and consistent marginal effect of 3.3 percentage points, even after accounting for income, education, and urban residence. These results suggest that health insurance influences household behavior through both economic and behavioral pathways—by stabilizing income and increasing health awareness about indoor air pollution. The paper concludes that combining health insurance expansion with clean cooking initiatives can generate multiple benefits for public health, environmental sustainability, and energy transitions across Africa, while also supporting domestic demand for cleaner fuels and strengthening local production capacity.