Carbon Trust – Project: Transforming Energy Access for Better Health Care Services
Health care development is today mainly driven by electricity, which is a critical problem in Africa. Energy is often either unreliable or inaccessible leading to consequential outcomes such as spoiling of medicines, inability to use basic diagnostic and medical devices, and treatment complication such as with emergency procedures – from lack of basic lighting and communication. The lack of reliable energy source also leads to limitation of working hours and slacks the deployment of medical technology. From reports we have gathered; technology serves a critical role in the development of healthcare and it has great potential in transforming health care delivery in Africa. However, most parts of technology demand a reliable source of electricity that is often lacking in various areas of Kenya especially in the rural areas.
Kenya faces a major issue with an underdeveloped energy industry that significantly affects power generation and distribution. The electricity supply through national networks regularly fails to keep pace with demand. Back-up generators can’t prevent the sudden blackouts that damage delicate medical machinery or disrupt medical procedures and endanger patients’ lives.
Solar energy provides great potential for generating off-grid renewable energy through solar. Renewable energy offers medical centers efficient, low-cost, reliable, and independent sources of electricity that have the potential to significantly expand and improve health care access and delivery where power is a problem—especially in remote rural areas.
Even so, with many health care facilities underfunded and unable to afford set-up costs for renewable energy, there have been calls for public-private initiatives through which multinational companies that extract resources in Africa would support local communities by funding the essentials of health care.
Transforming Energy Access-POP has partnered with ARA to implement solar energy systems across the network of rural medical centers (Ubuntu-Afya Kiosks), and linked public health facilities that serve as referral centers to their kiosks, to support optimal implementation of their in-house digital health information management system (STONE-HMIS) and better clinical outcomes.
The Transforming Energy Access program is leading development of innovative technologies, business models, partnerships and skills with the aim of accelerating access to affordable, clean energy services for households and enterprises in developing countries.
The Carbon Trust – Project will install, reinforce and maintain solar energy solutions, and set up back-up solar systems to support implementation of STONE-HMIS in both Ubuntu-Afya networks of facilities and linked public and faith-based health facilities. This solar energy solution will improve clinical operations supporting longer opening hours, better diagnostic capacity, and greater ability to care for clinical emergencies.