PROBLEM STATEMENT
|
|
"Electricity access in healthcare facilities can make the difference between life and death. Investing in reliable, clean, and sustainable energy for healthcare facilities is much needed to achieve universal health coverage, as well as increasing climate resilience and adaptation." - Dr. Maria Neira
|
Reliable basic infrastructure, particularly electricity, is a critical enabling factor in improving health systems. Yet, there is a lack of systematic and rigorous studies examining the effect of the provision of reliable electricity on rural healthcare in a developing country context. In 2019, the Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition published the first study examining the impact of electricity on rural healthcare outcomes.
The study concluded that reliable electricity can be an effective tool in improving the core components of health systems, such as improving the operational capacity of rural healthcare facilities, improving access to health information through electronic media, and boosting the utilization of child immunization and maternal health services. The full text of the article, Effect of reliable electricity on health facilities, health information, and child and maternal health services utilization: evidence from rural Gujarat, India, is available for download, below:
The study concluded that reliable electricity can be an effective tool in improving the core components of health systems, such as improving the operational capacity of rural healthcare facilities, improving access to health information through electronic media, and boosting the utilization of child immunization and maternal health services. The full text of the article, Effect of reliable electricity on health facilities, health information, and child and maternal health services utilization: evidence from rural Gujarat, India, is available for download, below:
| Effect of Electricity on Healthcare Outcomes in Rural Gujarat, India |
Similarly, little attention has been given to the health impact of intermittent electric power outages in healthcare facilities with electric power, including power outages due to weather- and climate-related natural disasters. An August 2022 study published in Psychology, Health & Medicine assessed the impact of intermittent electric power outages on grid-connected healthcare facility mortality in Ghana, a country that has experienced worsening energy crises in the last few decades.
| psychology_health___medicine_aug_2022.pdf |
Using nationally representative data of healthcare facilities from the 2012 Ghana Access, Bottlenecks, Cost and Equity (ABCE) Health Facility Survey, the study revealed an association between the frequency of power outages and in-facility mortality, with the risk for mortality estimated to increase by 43% for each day the power was out for over a period of 2 hours.
According to a 14 January 2023 report, Energizing Health: Accelerating Electricity Access in Health-Care Facilities, from the World Bank, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforAll), over 1 billion people throughout the developing world receive medical services from healthcare facilities that lack access to electricity. Approximately 4.6 billion people receive services from healthcare facilities that experience intermittent electric power outages. Intermittent power is defined as a loss of power on average for up to 8 hours per day for 16 days per month.
| Energizing Health: Accelerating Electricity Access in Health-Care Facilities |
Although no authoritative global-scale study exists that accounts that examines healthcare outcomes due to the lack of access to electric power or intermittent electric power outages for healthcare facilities in a developing country context, the referenced studies above indicate that over 5.6 billion people --- primarily living in the global south --- are at risk of poor healthcare outcomes due the lack of adequate electric power services.
Power outages, a common and under-appreciated consequence of natural disasters, are increasing in number and severity due to climate change and poorly constructed, aging electricity grids. Power outages and community health: a narrative review, a survey of existing literature (principally in the context of developed countries) published by the National Institutes of Health, suggests that power outages due to severe weather- and climate-related natural disasters have important health consequences ranging from carbon monoxide poisoning, temperature-related illness, gastrointestinal illness, and mortality to all-cause, cardiovascular, respiratory, and renal disease hospitalizations, especially for individuals relying on electricity-dependent medical equipment.
The survey concluded that as power outages increase in frequency and duration due to climate-induced natural disasters researchers must expand efforts to understand their impact on individual and population health, refining methods of exposure assessment with attention to varied and disparate outcomes. Furthermore, the literature review emphasized that there is an urgent need for research to inform disaster mitigation, resilience, preparedness, and response policies (and budgets) in an increasingly disaster-prone, energy-reliant world.
Power outages, a common and under-appreciated consequence of natural disasters, are increasing in number and severity due to climate change and poorly constructed, aging electricity grids. Power outages and community health: a narrative review, a survey of existing literature (principally in the context of developed countries) published by the National Institutes of Health, suggests that power outages due to severe weather- and climate-related natural disasters have important health consequences ranging from carbon monoxide poisoning, temperature-related illness, gastrointestinal illness, and mortality to all-cause, cardiovascular, respiratory, and renal disease hospitalizations, especially for individuals relying on electricity-dependent medical equipment.
The survey concluded that as power outages increase in frequency and duration due to climate-induced natural disasters researchers must expand efforts to understand their impact on individual and population health, refining methods of exposure assessment with attention to varied and disparate outcomes. Furthermore, the literature review emphasized that there is an urgent need for research to inform disaster mitigation, resilience, preparedness, and response policies (and budgets) in an increasingly disaster-prone, energy-reliant world.
| Power outages and community health: a narrative review |
GLOBAL RESPONSE
In response to this crisis, several international initiatives have been launched to improve healthcare facility electrification in the developing world.
- The Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) Initiative: SEforALL is a unique joint venture between the United Nations and the World Bank Group, launched the "Powering Healthcare Hub" (HUB) as a platform for coordinated action for the wide-scale deployment of clean and reliable energy solutions in healthcare facilities with little to no access to electricity. It also monitors healthcare electrification progress through the Health Facility Electrification Energy Compact that was launched by SEforALL and other partners during the UN High-level Dialogue on Energy in 2021. The United Nations Foundation developed the prototype for the initial SEforALL "Powering Healthcare" initiative, as represented in the video below, "Phoebe's Story:"
|
|
|
The Powering Healthcare Hub is a solutions-driven, one-stop-shop to provide data, best practices, support and leadership for the electrification of health facilities in energy-deficit countries. The Hub includes our programme’s work along with the brilliant initiatives of other stakeholders, thus representing the overall powering healthcare sector.
|
- USAID Global Development Alliance: Power Africa and USAID’s Global Health Bureau, in partnership with the private sector, are supporting healthcare delivery outcomes through the Health Facility Electrification program to electrify and digitally connect 10,000 health facilities in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030. The Health Electrification and Telecommunications Alliance (HETA) is Power Africa’s flagship initiative for health facility electrification and digital connectivity in sub-Saharan Africa. Our mission is to catalyze public-private partnerships for sustainable business models that increase access to reliable, renewable energy and digital connections.
|
|
|
Through joint Memoranda of Understanding (MOU), Power Africa is working creatively and collaboratively with multilateral partners to leverage collective technical expertise, financial resources, and tools to overcome Africa’s significant energy deficit, increase productive uses and economic opportunity and ultimately reduce poverty for tens of millions of citizens in sub-Saharan Africa.
|
- The Health Facility Electrification Energy Compact: The Health Facility Electrification Energy Compact, launched by SEforALL and other partners during the UN High-level Dialogue on Energy in 2021, aims to provide 25,000 health facilities with sustainable access to a clean and reliable power source by 2030 (multi-stakeholder sectoral target), and 20 sector assessments of healthcare systems at the national level, including relevant data and recommendations for implementation.
Health Facility Electrification Energy Compact Partners
| Multilateral Energy Compact for Health Facility Electrification |
UNIVERSITY-BASED ELECTRIFICATION COMMITMENT
PROOF-OF-CONCEPT
PROOF-OF-CONCEPT
| |||||||
In the Spring semester of 2021, the Renewable Nations Institute and the Vermont State University, Randolph (formally the Vermont Technical College), collaborated on the 2021 MEC 4722 Renewable Energy Capstone Project. The purpose of the Capstone Project was to demonstrate the efficacy of a proposed student internship program to provide accurate, timely, and scalable energy efficiency and renewable energy (EERE) project development services for deep-rural healthcare facility electrification in the developing world.