Well, it’s been a very busy week, but we finally have completed our first batch of suitcases for Haiti relief efforts. Our home has been transformed into an obstacle course of solar panels, batteries, charge controllers, LED lights, and other essential items for lighting and communication. We’re packing these cases with overhead LED lights, battery chargers, LED headlamps, and BOGO lights, the solar powered flashlights that entranced the hospital staff in Nigeria last month. We translated our instruction manual into French, and soon, Creole. For the first time, we’re sending off our suitcases by mail. Until now, we’ve always handed them off to colleagues with a brief demonstration. Now, we’re sending along these suitcases to medical teams in Haiti. In some cases, to areas that may have had trouble with electricity and infrastructure even before the earthquake. We are grateful for the generous support of our extended network of friends and family who have enabled us to respond to requests for help in Haiti. The first recipients of solar suitcases in Haiti are doctors and nurses from partners in Health, Haitian Memorial Foundation, and Angels in Haiti.
In Nigeria and Zimbabwe, PHCs Leverage Renewable Energy to Improve Maternal Healthcare
During Dr Laura Stachel’s postgraduate research on maternal mortality at Gambo Sawaba General Hospital (GSGH) in Kofan Gayan, Kaduna State, in 2008, she noticed a connection between the lack of energy supply and high maternal mortality at the health centre.