Can combining the latest energy efficient medical appliances with Pay-As-You-Go solar home systems be a game changer in rural, off-grid clinics in Zambia?
By: Lorenza Geronimo
Tags: Frontier Tech, Livestreaming, Pay As You Go, Solar Energy, Healthcare

Can combining the latest energy efficient medical appliances with Pay-As-You-Go solar home systems be a game changer in rural, off-grid clinics in Zambia? Lorenza Geronimo Follow Dec 1, 2020 · 4 min read

Healthcare worker in St Luke’s hospital in Rufunsa district, Zambia. Credit: Peter Caton.

Limited access to electricity is one of the key challenges to Zambia’s health sector. National access to electricity averages at 31% with 67% of the urban and 4% of the rural population having access to power. In comparison, the Sub-Saharan African region’s access averages at 47.9%, while the overall global average is understood to be at 90%.

Part of this crisis is climate-driven. Zambia relies on hydropower dams on the Zambezi river and tributaries for about 80% of its national electricity generation. However, the worst drought that the southwest region of the country has seen in nearly four decades has recently disrupted them. The national power utility company ZESCO has estimated that the situation will prevail until early 2021 as they are working with a 700 megawatt deficit.

Across all the main health facilities in Zambia, only around 35% of those in rural areas have a functional connection to the grid. Having no access to electricity will hinder health facilities’ ability to quickly and efficiently prepare and respond to the rise of COVID-19 cases in Zambia.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) advocates for clean energy-backed recovery from COVID-19, claiming that these solutions can be deployed rapidly amid the battle against the pandemic. While a few clinics in Zambia have been successful in implementing solar power, the problem ahead lies in scaling this access to off-grid health centres throughout the country’s rural areas.

Only 46% of rural residents live within a 5 kilometre radius of a health centre and many have to travel more than 50 kilometres to reach the nearest facility. As a consequence it is necessary to ensure that these aren’t made further futile by a lack of power. Without electricity, clinics are unable to use refrigerators to store essential medicines and have to rely on battery-powered medical appliances to carry out critical diagnostic tests.

Installing a solar home system in a health centre in Rufunsa district, Zambia. Photo credit: Peter Caton.

The Frontier Technologies Livestreaming programme has partnered with SolarAid in order to tackle these challenges. Across 10 rural, off-grid health posts in Zambia, the pilot will seek to deploy the latest plug-and-pay, PAYG solar systems with the latest energy efficient medical appliances. These include non-contact infrared thermometers, pulse oximeters, foetal droppers, digital blood pressure monitors, LED lighting, and head torches to assist with medical care.

Clinics will also be equipped with plug and play, solar direct drive vaccine refrigerators developed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Refrigerators will be a vital part of the roll out of the vaccine logistics plan around the world and it will be critical to ensure this can be done effectively in Zambia. The solar systems will further power smartphones, radios and tablets, all of which are vital for communication and access to information.

This pilot repurposes solar systems designed to power lights, mobile phones, and televisions for off grid households and uses them to power medical appliances instead. Having plug-and-play systems in place will allow healthcare facilities to benefit from access to electricity without having to become experts on the technology and its maintenance. Health professionals are less interested in photovoltaic technology and more interested in what they could do with the power it generates.

As local health authorities have not yet trialled the use of these devices, SolarAid will work with the Churches Health Association of Zambia (CHAZ) to identify which clinics would most benefit from taking part in the pilot .

Solar home systems provide lighting at St Luke’s hospital in Rufunsa district, Zambia. Photo credit: Peter Caton.

70% of the systems will come with remote monitoring technology that will enable SolarAid to track how the healthcare facilities are using the appliances and solar systems. The pilot will collect key data to show the immediate and long-term positive impact deployment can have on key health metrics and the range of services available at these rural health facilities. These include COVID-related tests with infrared thermometers and pulse oximeters.

It will also demonstrate the business case that will enable the new wave of plug-and-play solar companies rising up across the continent to scale up this intervention across the country. Finally, the pilot will illustrate how these systems and appliances can be rapidly deployed and maintained by local solar companies.

During the first sprint, we will undertake experiments to determine whether using plug-and-pay solar systems with the latest energy efficient medical appliances can increase the range and quality of health services available in rural health centres across Zambia, their user friendliness and ability to meet the demands of a clinical setting, whether they can increase patient confidence and satisfaction, as well as developing an understanding of a path to scale as a viable commercial entity, or with public sector support.