Reuters AlertNet - How a "solar suitcase" is saving women's lives in Nigeria

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How a "solar suitcase" is saving women's lives in Nigeria

02 Jun 2009 18:21:00 GMT

Written by: Adele Waugaman

Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.

When obstetrician Laura Stachel arrived in rural Nigeria to collect data about maternal care, she was shocked to discover that women were dying in childbirth because clinics had no reliable power supply.

After taking a course on solar electricity, she created what she calls the "solar suitcase" - which is now proving a life-saver in one of the hospitals she visited.

This week technical, health and development experts are gathering in Washington for the Humanitarian Technology Challenge. The goal is to engage people like Laura - engineers, health experts and aid workers - to develop technology-based solutions to meet some of the world's most pressing humanitarian needs.

Around the globe, 5.7 billion people live in countries where infrastructure, healthcare, and social services are often unreliable or unavailable.

The Humanitarian Technology Challenge is looking for solutions to three health-related problems:

Reliable electricity. In many rural communities power is sporadic or simply unavailable. In the worst case scenario, this can cause serious complications for patients and even death.

Data connectivity for rural health offices. The reliable, two-way transfer of health data, a rarity in the developing world, is essential for even the most basic health systems in order for patients to receive timely care.

Patient identification tied to medical records. This is particularly relevant for refugees and internally displaced people.

Columbia University's Millennium Villages Project, which aims to help rural African communities lift themselves out of extreme poverty, has offered to pilot any new technologies where suitable.

The Challenge is a joint initiative of IEEE, the world's largest association of engineers, and the United Nations Foundation and Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership.

SAVING LIVES

Back in Nigeria, Laura's "solar suitcase" is taking on one of the world's toughest challenges - reducing maternal mortality.

Every year, an estimated half a million women die in childbirth, and 99 percent of these deaths happen in underdeveloped countries.

In Nigeria, many women in labor are turned away from rural health clinics simply because there's no doctor or no reliable electrical power.

In the northern city of Zaria, Laura found that the lone public hospital had only 160 hospital beds for a population of 1.5 million, and that electricity was available no more than 12 hours a day.

There was no running water in the delivery room, and no blood bank because intermittent access to electricity meant the blood couldn't be refrigerated reliably.

Laura's "solar suitcase", a kit of solar panels and rechargeable batteries, can light operating and delivery rooms, run a blood bank refrigerator and power two-way radios so that staff can call in off-duty doctors for emergency surgery.

Her organization, WE CARE Solar, is now seeking funding, and fresh ideas from engineers, to scale up the project.

It's a great example of what the Humanitarian Technology Challenge is all about.

Anyone wanting to collaborate in the challenge can email a brief statement of interest with their name and affiliation to HTC@IEEE.org

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7 responses to “How a "solar suitcase" is saving women's lives in Nigeria ”

Please note that comments should not be regarded as the views of Reuters.

mark ebisike says:
05 Jun 2009 11:59:37 GMT
I wish to commend the courage of Laura Stachel for believing in Nigeria, for comming and most especially for chosing to go to Zaria. What she said about no electricity, no running water in PHC centres is true. It is really challenging working in rural PHC centres. However, I would like to add that because most PHC centres do not have electricity, the health workers usually inmprovise - make use of kerosene lanterns. In Nigeria any health worker who is sending home a woman in lanour because of no electricity is not sensitive to the plite of these rural women. Laura, thanks for the wonderful work that you are doing for my dear country. Mark
Francoise Freedman says:
07 Jul 2009 09:03:45 GMT
Dear Laura, Thank you for your inspiring innovation to save the lives of women in childbirth in PHC centres. The solar suitcase can make all the difference. Even where there are generators the supply can be erratic. In the Amazon and Andean regions of South America women are now worse off for having to be transferred to urban hospitals. Intermediate solutions like the solar suitcase offer a base to make a case for attending women in PHC centres, something they strongly prefer. I hope the solar suitcase can be made available as widely as possible, thank you and congratulations. Francoise, founder of Birthlight.
Francoise Freedman says:
07 Jul 2009 09:35:54 GMT
Dear Laura, Thank you for your inspiring innovation to save the lives of women in childbirth in PHC centres. The solar suitcase can make all the difference. Even where there are generators the supply can be erratic. In the Amazon and Andean regions of South America women are now worse off for having to be transferred to urban hospitals. Intermediate solutions like the solar suitcase offer a base to make a case for attending women in PHC centres, something they strongly prefer. I hope the solar suitcase can be made available as widely as possible, thank you and congratulations. Francoise, founder of Birthlight.
Francoise Freedman says:
07 Jul 2009 10:51:39 GMT
Dear Laura, Thank you for your inspiring innovation to save the lives of women in childbirth in PHC centres. The solar suitcase can make all the difference. Even where there are generators the supply can be erratic. In the Amazon and Andean regions of South America women are now worse off for having to be transferred to urban hospitals. Intermediate solutions like the solar suitcase offer a base to make a case for attending women in PHC centres, something they strongly prefer. I hope the solar suitcase can be made available as widely as possible, thank you and congratulations. Francoise, founder of Birthlight.
Laura Stachel says:
28 Jul 2009 13:22:52 GMT
Dear Francoise and Mark, Thank you for your comments. Francoise, I agree that generators do not always solve the problem. In Nigeria, the cost of fuel became prohibitive and generators would often lay dormant.Thank you for bringing up the plight of women in the Amazon and Andean regions. We would love to be of assistance in these areas. Please contact me to provide more details so we can think of how to distribute solar electric systems to these regions.
John Jacobs says:
31 Jul 2009 10:41:43 GMT
Laura, I'm so pleased to hear of appropriate technology being used so well. As a technologist who has worked in many African countries I know how such simple things as light, refrigeration and reliable radio communications can be life saving. Keep up the good work.
Akande Sunday Abimbola says:
10 Aug 2009 07:56:37 GMT
ABIMBOLA AKANDE, Laura, I'm also pleased to hear of appropriate technology being used so well. As a nursing assistant i will like to work with a technologist who has worked in many African countries, my interest is more than just to discuss i will also like to borrow from your idea to develop other local community in Nigeria.
Thanks.

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Blogged by Adele Waugaman

Adele Waugaman is communications director for the United Nations Foundation and Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership, a public-private partnership using strategic technology programmes to strengthen humanitarian work worldwide. She has also worked for Human Rights Watch and the NGO Coalition for the International Criminal Court.