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Keeping warm in winter is natural and often essential, and with the high cost of electricity those with access to firewood or charcoal resort to the brazier, since fireplaces are not common outside the leafier suburbs and in any case chew up a lot of firewood.

Common for more than a century in Zimbabwe, and longer in other parts of Africa, is the basic brazier made from a perforated tin and fired by charcoal, firewood, coal or even dried cattle dung.

The brazier, called mbaura in Shona and imbaula in Isindebele, is popular in winter in high-density suburbs and many households in rural areas.

At times a brazier is also used for cooking, and for cultural rituals. When used correctly, the brazier is very handy and where it’s not used properly, disaster strikes.

It is fact not fiction, that the brazier is particularly dangerous when left burning overnight to keep the home or room warm.

It has no external chimney, so the gases, the product of combustion, escapes into the room it is warming.

If windows are open then there is little problem, these gases simply vent to the atmosphere in safety.

But, for obvious reasons, few wanting to warm a room are willing to leave the windows open, or at least open more than a crack.

So the danger increases. First carbon dioxide levels build up. Carbon dioxide is not poisonous, but it can suffocate people if concentrations rise to very high levels.

But far more dangerous is the production of carbon monoxide, when oxygen levels have fallen and carbon dioxide is around. This is deadly poisonous, and is poisonous at low concentrations, as little as 35 parts per million, or 0.35 percent.

Statistics have proved that many people using a brazier have died in their sleep.

Winter after winter, year after year, the brazier has contributed to many deaths by carbon monoxide poisoning.

If the room is not ventilated enough, the brazier, which produces carbon monoxide, poisons inhabitants, killing, in some cases whole families through suffocation.

This happens much faster than might be anticipated by many people as the carbon monoxide spreads in the house, at the expense of oxygen. Just a few days ago, a couple and their young child from Zezani area in Beitbridge district that was using a brazier died after inhaling carbon monoxide overnight.

This might be the first recorded case this year, but is telling and should be used as a case to deter the abuse of braziers. There is therefore need to strike a balance between the need to keep warm and life afterwards.

That can only be achieved through a concerted effort to educate the people of the dangers of using the brazier without proper ventilation.

The cold season is upon us and will be with us for a couple of months up to end of August, if the weather forecast is anything to go by.

It is therefore imperative for the Government, civic society and all and sundry to pump up messages that psyche up people to use the braziers correctly.

Outside this, we are likely to lose more lives due to lack of knowledge.

Both conventional and social media should play catch-up their role in educating the masses on the proper use of brazier.

That people will not stop using braziers because indeed the cold is upon us is a fact we cannot deny, but we can actually do better by making our people use the properly.

Outside Africa, India is a good example of a country whose population use a lot of braziers and where there were too many deaths in winter.

India undertook a spirited campaign in 2015, together with civic organisations and traditional leaders to educate the masses on the proper use of the brazier.

Where deaths were triple digits per year prior to the campaign, it is now single digits in the past two years.

Suffice to say, we can adopt similar campaigns using central Government structures, civic society, traditional leaders and local Government and the media to supply the much needed correct information on the use of brazier.

For as long we use a free for all, or learn as you use approach, we might lose more lives.

The time to educate our people about the proper use of the brazier is now, because it is being used right now.

Any delay in educating the people will see more lives being lost before this winter is over. It should be everyone’s duty to teach the person next door about the use, for, precious life could be lost. Winter is still with us. The cold is still with us and indeed the brazier is still handy.

The safety of thousands, if not millions, of people using the brazier, can only be guaranteed through a spirited campaign to educate all and sundry about the good use of the brazier.

And the rich need not be sanguine about the threat. Running an electricity generator in an enclosed space or even a vehicle in a close garage, despite the dramatic safety improvement with the advent of fuel injection for petrol engines, can be just as fatal as oxygen levels fall.

Carbon monoxide is a deadly poison, but it is easy to avoid such poisoning, just do not have combustion, internal or external, in an enclosed space.