FROM illar
AFRICA ost
TO
Off-grid solar energy alleviates labour challenges in rural Africa
Six hundred health clinics across sub-Saharan Africa are able to provide care and treatment to patients outside of daylight hours , thanks to solar-powered lights and off-grid energy systems provided by d . light . As a result , the clinics can extend their operating hours including for expectant mothers in labour who would otherwise have given birth in darkness . This move is another accomplishment for d . light , which works as a global provider of transformational household products and for low-income households and communities in the developing world .
The World Health Organization ( WHO ) estimates that close to 1 billion people in low- and lowermiddle-income countries are served by healthcare facilities without reliable electricity access or with no electricity access at all . According to WHO , 15 % of healthcare facilities lack any access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa , whilst only 50 % of hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa report reliable energy access .
Lack of electricity is a major barrier to the delivery of quality healthcare services and one that particularly impacts rural communities across the continent . According to UNICEF , the lifetime risk of maternal death ranges from 1 in 5,300 in high income countries to 1 in 49 in lowincome countries . For example , in Western Europe , the rate is 1 in 11,000 . This rate is drastically and fatally higher in the African continent however : in sub-Saharan Africa , the rate is 1 in 41 , and Sub-Saharan Africa alone accounted for 70 % of global maternal deaths in 2020 .
“ Before d . light , we would be looking for torchlight in the middle of the night to deliver babies . We no longer have to go through that stress ,” said Dr Ajayi Olaluwa , Chief Matron at Omatosu Basic Health Centre in the town of Okitipupa in Ondo State , southwest Nigeria .
44 www . intelligentbuild . tech