“The latest Energy Progress Report, jointly produced by five international agencies, contains some impressive figures:
- 92 percent of the world’s population had access to electricity in 2024, up from 84 percent in 2010. About 86 percent of those still without electricity lived in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- 75 percent of the global population had access to clean cooking fuels in 2024, up from 57 percent in 2010.
- Global primary energy intensity—the amount of energy used per unit of economic output—fell from approximately 4.75 megajoules per 2021 purchasing power parity-adjusted dollar of GDP in 2010 to 3.76 megajoules in 2023, a decline of about 21 percent.”
So explains The Doomslayer.
Improved access to clean cooking fuels is leading to fewer killings of old women in Africa by believers in witchcraft. “Open-fire cooking with solid fuels like wood or biomass is a major cause of red-rimmed, irritated eyes in many parts of Africa. This smoke exposes the eyes to high levels of particulate matter and toxic gases, leading to inflammation, chronic redness, and a higher risk of long-term vision problems like cataracts.” Old women with red-rimmed, inflamed eyes are sometimes accused of being witches by other people in African villages.
“In Tanzania, the effect of cooking smoke on the eyes has led to witchcraft accusations against older women,” reports Devex. “This may also put them at risk of cataracts”:
Three years ago, 66-year-old Christine Chizimu woke up to find a dead snake in front of her house in Kihumulo village in northwestern Tanzania. Soon afterward, her brothers accused her of being a witch, causing her to believe it was all orchestrated by her family in a bid to run her out of the village and grab her land. But she said many people in the community were quick to believe these accusations because of her appearance.
Chizimu, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, has a full head of gray hair and bloodshot eyes. She said that at the time of the accusations, she could not see properly and would often stumble as she was walking or ask those she was speaking to to move closer so that she could recognize them.
“Many of the children in the village were already afraid of me, and they would say I am a witch and run away from me. When a family member came forward and accused me of witchcraft, many began to believe this as it was coming from within my family,” she said.
People accused of being witches are sometimes killed in African villages. 312 witchcraft-related killings took place in South Africa’s Northern Province over a decade, according to police. CBS News reported that “Six people accused of witchcraft were killed, burned alive, stoned or beaten by a militia in Burundi” in 2025.
But in recent years, a higher percentage of women are cooking with clean cooking fuels, reducing the number of old women who have bloodshot eyes. As a result, fewer old women are vulnerable to these false accusations of witchcraft.
