Clean fuels and safe water have a clear role in averting devastating health outcomes, yet unaffordability remains a major barrier to their uptake and to correct and continued use. Within the global health field, we have no consistent answer to the question of how we know that something is affordable and for whom. In this Viewpoint, we draw on the literature and our own fieldwork in Tanzania, Mexico, and India to show that commonly used metrics of affordability do not represent the true burdens of affording safe water and clean cooking in low-income and middle-income countries.
The Lancet Global Health published a clinical update in Infectious Disease on 01 Apr 2026.
The item focuses on Affordability re-examined: beyond the health burden of safe water and clean cooking.
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