This holiday season, SELF is raising awareness for the important role of light in our lives. This article explores how light saves lives in healthcare settings.
Can you imagine going to the hospital in the middle of the night for an emergency, only to be told to come back when the sun rises?
Today, nearly 1 billion people rely on health facilities that have unreliable access to electricity or no electricity at all. These facilities have no way to routinely power medical equipment such as x-ray machines and ventilators. At an even more basic level, these hospitals and clinics have only limited access to lighting, forcing staff to close their doors or gamble on routine procedures going awry.
This was the case in Kourel, a rural village in Benin, West Africa. Recent years saw the national electric grid extended to the region, but problems remained. While Kourel was technically grid-connected, severe outages left residents without power on a regular basis. Nowhere suffered consequences as dire as the local health clinic.
According to the clinic, grid electricity is cut at least four times every week. Sometimes it’s back on in a few minutes; other times it’s out all day. Either case can be disastrous when emergencies strike. While the newfound electricity was theoretically an improvement, the clinic was unable to rely on it for its operations.
Fortunately, Kourel found an alternative in solar power. Thanks to SELF donors, the clinic has since been equipped with solar appliances that work independently of the national electric grid.
“The solar electric system creates a reserve of electricity, even when the grid electricity is cut, it works. Even in the rainy season, it works,” says Hector Mabou, chief nurse for the Kourel health clinic.
That means that when the grid suffers an outage, the medical staff can continue seeing patients—literally, in the case of lighting at night. The solar technology powers a number of medical devices, including complex appliances for things like vaccine refrigeration. But few tools are used quite as often as the lights overhead.
No longer must nurses turn patients away or otherwise attempt to treat wounds in darkness. No longer must doctors conduct surgery or deliver babies by candlelight. No longer must patients hold out for the morning when emergency strikes.
“We can depend on this power,” Mabou says.
Light saves lives. And you make it possible.
SELF is a global leader in the fight against energy poverty. Since 1990, we’ve pioneered unique applications for solar energy, powering progress on food security, health care, education, gender equity, and more.
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