Solar Powering Healthcare

Without access to electricity, health facilities are unable to provide access to modern healthcare. Yet, an estimated 3 out of every 4 health facilities across sub-Saharan Africa lack access to reliable electricity, and 1 in 4 have no access to electricity at all. Millions of people, in particular children, women and the elderly, are left vulnerable.

This is yet another face of poverty, limiting lives and potential. As we continue our fight against poverty, SolarAid has committed to ensuring that no clinic in Africa is left in the dark, without access to light and power. We believe that solar power has a vital role to play in helping solve this problem.

Working together with local health partners, we are developing programmes which aim to demonstrate that plug and play solar systems and handheld medical appliances, can be used to develop a sustainable, replicable and scalable model through which rural health facilities have improved access to a wider range and higher quality of healthcare services.

Learn more about our work on Powering Healthcare

The Last Baby to Be Born in the Dark

About 75% of health clinics in sub- Saharan Africa lack access to reliable electricity. Mtimabii Health Clinic in Mangochi, rural Malawi was one of these. But those dark nights are now a thing of the past at Mtimabii and Baby Diana is the last baby will be born in the dark.

No mother left in the dark

In sub-Saharan Africa, where 200,000 women die of complications during childbirth each year, 75% of health clinics lack access to reliable electricity leaving millions of pregnant women vulnerable. In late 2020, SolarAid launched a Powering Healthcare pilot in Zambia, aiming to bring solar light and solar powered handheld medical equipment to rural clinics without access to reliable electricity.

Olivia is sitting on a hospital bed, smiling.

Olivia can now hear her baby

Olivia Chivita is a patient at Chipembi Rural Health clinic in Zambia. Like most rural clinics in Zambia, Chipembi is lacking access to stable electricity. Solar home systems have now been installed to light up the clinic, and solar rechargeable medical equipment has been delivered. Olivia, who is pregnant with her second child can now for the first time hear her baby with the help of the solar powered foetal doppler.

A night at St. Luke's Hospital

Sister Martha has worked at St. Luke’s hospital in rural Zambia for 16 years. 6 years ago, the hospital got access to solar lights, but Sister Martha remembers a time before that.

Lighting up health centres in rural Zambia

By installing multi light solar homes systems that have the capacity to recharge batteries which can be used for small scale medical equipment, SolarAid is working on providing innovative solutions to increase medical capacity within rural Zambian health centres.

Our COVID-19 response, lighting up clinics in the dark

As the COVID-19 pandemic hit Malawi, our team got to work, delivering solar lights to clinics and isolation centres across the country.