Solar electricity for effective women and children health care in health centers in rural areas of Tanzania
Requested by
Building EqualityWho are you trying to help? What issue are you trying to address?
Each week, an average of 170 children would line up to be immunized by government issue vaccines delivered from Bagamoyo district hospital, 8 hours drive away with the land cruisers. When vaccine deliveries were delayed, newborn children remained unvaccinated against the diseases that run rampant in their region. Villagers would walk miles between local clinics trying to vaccinate their children, and some would never receive the immunizations they seek.
Doctors/nurses live on-site at the centres for medical emergencies, but they can usually not work at night because there is no electricity. Therefore, people do not seek emergency medical care at night, so they stay at home, risking their lives to wait until morning.
Without electricity, Miono, Chalinze, Msata and Kwaruhombo health centers cannot offer effective medical care. They use kerosene lamps to light nighttime surgeries, and have no power for refrigeration of lifesaving medicines and vaccines. Because they lack energy, generations of children are not immunized against preventable disease.
What is your project and how will it help?
Building Equality is proposing a project to establish a solar installation in four health centers of Miono, Chalinze, Msata and Kwaruhombo Bagamoyo district.
The four centers serve a population of 46,980. The project aims to reduce the mortality rate through availability of timely vaccines and medicines (by having refrigerators that store thousands of medicines and vaccines) and access to safe and sanitary birth through power installation.
Building Equality will buy solar inputs and install to those health centers. Using solar energy, we will install refrigerators that store thousands of medicines and vaccines. And replace unsafe and unsanitary kerosene lamps with energy saver bulbs in each room, providing healthcare workers and patients with the well-lit medical care they deserve. With light in their health centers it will make health centers accessible at all times of day to local people.
1: Aim of the project is to improve health services and medical care that reduces mortality rate, risks birth and availability of day and night medical care and services in four health centers of Miono, Chalinze, Msata and Kwaruhombo Bagamoyo district through power installation by 2014.
2: Objectives are:-
Decrease of mortality rate by surely and timely immunized children against preventable disease through power for refrigeration that store lifesaving medicines and vaccines in at health centers of Miono, Chalinze, Msata and Kwaruhombo from current ratio 298 /1,000 to 50/1,000 by end of 2014.ii. Decrease of risks birth among women and introducing safe and sanitary light and services to both service provider and patients at health centers of Miono, Chalinze, Msata and Kwaruhombo from current ratio 674/100,000 to 300/100,000 by end of 2014.
iii. Effective health services though availability of day and night medical care and services with up to date medicines at health centers of Miono, Chalinze, Msata and Kwaruhombo from current 42% to 90% by end of 2014.
How can other people partner with you on your project?
People can partner with us through donation of money to accomplish the project.
Please detail the resources that you need.
Buying solar panels, solar refrigerators and associated inputs – US$ 20,000
Transportation of solar panels, solar refrigerators and associated inputs to field area form the shop 200kms – US$ 1,500
Installation, wiring & bulb -US$ 1,000
Please contact us for further information.
12 Apr 2014 09:22 GMT
LightBySolar Global
(For-profit organisation)
Molly Jones says: At Light By Solar, we have considered carefully the impact we can make in Africa, Asia, North America, The Carribbean and other emerging economies.
In most developing nations, the impact of poor or innaccessible grid energy is significant not just on those who are living on low incomes but also also on those who are earning good incomes.
Not having light is a common and serious problem impacting healthcare delivery, safety, well being and day to day quality of life.
As part of our efforts to make a small difference in the big world we are offering a number of initiatives to support bringing clean, renewable, sustainable and cost effective means of producing electrical energy to everyone.
We have seen the criticisms from the developing world about innacessibility, barriers to distribution and barriers to engaging meaningful support for Non Government Organisations working to bring electricity and light to the most needy in our communities.
We offer a specific initiatives which focus on NGO's who provide micro finance or are engaged in power supply projects.
1. As an NGO involved in microfinance or investing in petty businesses you can partner with us to nominate cooperatives of petty traders who can import solar products to sell at same prices as big distribution companies.
2. As an NGO who is involed in supporting distribution of lighting products we can partner with you to encourage your supporters to help.
By donating the cost of a solar lamp or kit to such NGO who are engaged or partnered with Lightbysolar others will be able to help toward realisation of power supply to many needy people, we in turn supply to the NGO's at the same prices as we would to larger distributors.
We also provide an added benefit of advertisement and publicity via our website about your causes and at the same time publish your notable news on our company blog to show how your efforts are working out.
The motivation that led Light by solar to introduce this initiative to partner include
1. Being Avid Supporters of sustainable futures and interest in bringing Light and Electricity to those who need it most.
2. We are very keen on and support the eradication of dirty energy sources worldwide which harm our environment and are unsafe and or not renewable
3. After reading year on year reports about energy needs in non OECD aka emerging economies and realising the heavy reliance in Africa and other emerging economies on non renewable and environmentally unfriendly power sources which are fast depleting such as coal and petroleum, coupled with the continued population growth and surges in demand for grid power which is inaccessible to many, we made a choice.
Our choice was to support all efforts to light up the world using solar energy in an economically sustainable way, because we are not a conglomerate, we don't do magnificient things with fancy television adverts but we are commited to supporting emerging economies by introducing schemes that will have a positive domino effect as best we can.
These two initiatives can be accessed by perusing the website to choose which products you want to ask for donations towards or which products you want to encourage petty traders to import to sustain a living and pay back their loans and fill in the relevant form online to access our wholesale prices as an NGO partner.