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We Care Solar
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The Power to Save Lives
October 2014 Report
Dear
A letter from our Executive Director
Dear Friends, This report provides an overview of our work over the last year – it has been a momentous year! Every night, thousands of health workers are expected to provide life-saving care in health centers that lack electricity. We’ve met midwives who struggle to deliver babies by candlelight or kerosene lantern, doctors who finish surgeries by flashlight, and nurses who reluctantly send critically ill mothers away when health centers are without power. We started We Care Solar to address this challenge. We developed the Solar Suitcase – a rugged, compact prewired solar electric system - to make it easier to equip health workers with medical lighting and essential power. In the last four years, we have deployed over 800 Solar Suitcases to light up childbirth around the world - from rural village clinics in Sierra Leone to health centers in the mountains of Nepal to island clinics in Uganda. Our recent work has focused on collaborating with partners who could help us build sustainable programs. Our partners include the World Health Organization, UNICEF, Jhpiego, Save the Children, AMREF, UNFPA, Engender Health, Hamlin College of Midwives, and Pathfinder International. These diverse organizations share a common goal: to make childbirth safer and reduce maternal and newborn mortality. And at the end of 2013, we responded to another challenge – the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. Our Solar Suitcases aided health workers providing emergency medical care and midwives in temporary and damaged clinics. And most recently, we responded to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa by sending Solar Suitcases to health workers needing nighttime lighting. We have also been working internationally to advocate for sustainable energy solutions for women’s health care. Our efforts with the UN Foundation on the United Nations Sustainable Energy for All initiative led to speaking engagements at the World Bank, the World Health Organization, and most recently the United Nations. We were thrilled to work in partnership with the WHO, the UN Foundation, and UN Women on a new initiative called the High Impact Opportunity (HIO) on Energy and Women’s Health, aimed at improving women’s health by increasing access to modern energy services. Our 2013 CNN Heroes Award made many more people aware of our mission. As we celebrate our everwidening reach, we know that many mothers still struggle to give birth in darkness and more clinics are in need of reliable electricity. We thank you for supporting We Care Solar and for making this work possible.
Laura Stachel, MD MPH
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Our Mission: We believe that safe childbirth is the foundation for healthy families and communities. Hundreds of mothers in the developing world die each night giving birth in dark and unsafe conditions. Midwives and doctors struggle to provide lifesaving care in health centers lacking electricity. We Care Solar lights up health clinics and gives health workers the tools they need to save lives.
Our reach: • • •
230 new Solar Suitcases were deployed to health centers in 2013, serving an estimated 700 health workers and 46,000 childbearing mothers and babies. 468 more Solar Suitcases were shipped in 2014 to date. Since inception, we have served an estimated 365,000 childbearing mothers and their infants.
With the Solar Suitcase: • • • • •
Midwives provide safer routine and emergency obstetric care, Health workers easily hear fetal heart tones and detect fetal wellbeing or distress, Surgeons conduct c/sections through the night, Emergency medical referrals are made promptly, and More expectant mothers access skilled care.
Program Overview 2013-2014
Solar Suitcase Programs
Research and Development
Education
Our Solar Suitcase programs are designed to deliver our technology to remote health centers, and to provide capacity-building workshops to enable our partners to take a leadership role in installation and maintenance.
Our Solar Suitcase technology is getting even better.
We Share Solar, our newest education program, gives youth the opportunity to build Solar Suitcases for schools and orphanages in developing countries. In addition to teaching youth about energy poverty, it provides a rewarding handson experience emphasizing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) skills.
In 2013 and 2014, we initiated Solar Suitcase programs in Malawi, Tanzania, Ethiopia, the Philippines and Eritrea, and expanded existing programs in Uganda and Sierra Leone. Solar Suitcases were also delivered to health centers in the following countries: • • • • • •
Nepal Papua New Guinea The Gambia The DR Congo Kenya Liberia
Some of our Solar Suitcase initiatives are highlighted on the next pages.
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We’ve conducted field research in several countries, soliciting feedback from our international partners in order to optimize the design of our compact solar electric systems. In the first half of 2014, we began piloting our new LED lights, which are better suited for long-term use in harsh environmental conditions. We looked at ways to expand the capacity of the Solar Suitcase. When we received requests to power laptop computers in Uganda, we designed a “smart box” to help health workers charge accessories while preserving electricity for night- time lighting. And we are testing new battery technology that will extend the capacity and lifetime of the system before a battery replacement is needed.
We launched We Share Solar in 2013 at the San Jose Tech Museum and developed a photo-rich curriculum. The program was piloted by educators in California, Rhode Island, Florida, and New Jersey, resulting in the placement of 90 We Share Solar Suitcases in orphanages and schools in Uganda, Haiti, Cameroon, Kenya and other countries. By giving American youth the opportunity to “learn, build, and share” we are supporting the next generation of social innovators, while simultaneously providing essential light and electricity for youth in developing countries.
2013-14 Solar Suitcase Programs Bringing light and essential power to healthcare
Uganda – Multipartner Program Uganda was a major focus of our activities in 2013. With support from Linkin Park’s “Power the World” program, UNICEF and the Segal Family Foundation, we donated 125 Solar Suitcases to six NGOs (UNICEF, Save the Children, Pathfinder International, Ugandan Private Midwives Association, Kissito Healthcare International and Safe Mothers Safe Babies) and conducted classroom instruction and hands-on training for the first installations.
Nepal – One Heart Worldwide Our partner in Nepal, One Heart Worldwide installed ten Solar Suitcases at rural health facilities in Baglung and Dolmas. Nepal has a low rate of birth with skilled attendants. Rural health centers are often without grid electricity or generators, and greatly benefit from the renewable, reliable electricity provided by the Solar Suitcases. One health center boasted a 300% increase in monthly deliveries after the upgrades by We Care Solar and One Heart Worldwide.
Uganda – Saving Lives At Birth, AMREF In February 2014, we conducted trainings in four districts of Southwest Uganda and trained dozens of district health staff in preparation for the installation of 147 Solar Suitcases in 100 health centers. The trainings were led by seven We Care Solar staff and volunteers (our “Solar Ambassadors”) and included classroom instruction and hands-on exercises. Working with cold chain technicians, AMREF staff, and health clinic staff, our team next helped class participants conduct Solar Suitcase installations in clinics until they were comfortable doing installations on their own.
Ethiopia – Hamlin College of Midwives Our small pilot program in Ethiopia that began in 2013 is growing. Thanks to the support of two U.S. family foundations and a Swiss NGO, we delivered 25 Solar Suitcases to Ethiopia in partnership with Hamlin College of Midwives, WEEMA, and Kissito Healthcare International. In February, WCS staff conducted a Solar Suitcase training in Addis Ababa and outlying areas. We are expanding this program at the end of 2014.
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Solar Suitcase Pilot Programs Programs we are expanding Malawi – Jhpiego, Save the Children, CARE In February 2014, Executive Director Laura Stachel and two Solar Ambassadors conducted a Solar Suitcase training in Lilongwe as part of program to bring 40 Solar Suitcases to rural health facilities. Participants included 23 health technicians from multiple districts of Malawi. Following the classroom training, WCS accompanied technicians to 10 health facilities to conduct installations and health worker trainings, and installations were completed this month.
Sierra Leone – UNFPA In 2013, following a successful pilot program in Sierra Leone in 2012, UNFPA and the Sierra Leone Department of Health and Sanitation installed 42 Solar Suitcases at Primary Health Units throughout the country. Sierra Leone has a high maternal mortality rate (890 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births) and rural health centers are without grid electricity or generators. We are in contact with the Ministry of Health to discuss supporting Ebola health workers with Solar Suitcases.
Philippines – Stiftung Solarenergie Philippines 90 Solar Suitcases were shipped to the Philippines as part of the MacArthur-funded Solar Suitcase program to aid victims of Typhoon Haiyan, in partnership with Stiftung Solarenergie Foundation. We Care Solar co-founder Hal Aronson and Solar Ambassador Whitney Owen conducted Solar Suitcase trainings in Manila and Cebu in May for health care workers and solar installers, and assisted with clinic installations in Typhoonaffected areas. We are expanding this program at the beginning of 2015.
Tanzania – TanzSolar/Pathfinder With support from Newman’s Own Foundation, we installed 10 Solar Suitcases in Tanzania in December 2013 in partnership with TanzSolar. Looking forward, the Global Health Foundation will be supporting our work with Pathfinder International in Tanzania on their efforts to light up dozens of health facilities in the Sengerema region. We are seeking additional funders for this work.
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One midwife’s story By Laura Stachel
The visit to Fanny’s clinic was featured on the 2013 CNN Heroes Special.
I met midwife Fanny Chathyoka in Malawi in 2013 under the light of the moon. It was close to 8 p.m., and her rural clinic had no electricity. By my flashlight, Fanny ushered me into the labor room, where three delivery beds stood in complete darkness. I asked Fanny how she would attend to expectant mothers that night. She pulled out her cell phone, perched it on a counter across the room, and turned on its dim light. I could barely make out the contour of the delivery bed. I asked how she could care for her patients under these conditions, and she told me that difficult procedures would need to wait until morning. Fanny’s face beamed when I showed her the Solar Suitcase. She realized that her labor room would always have bright lights, that her phone would always be charged, that she would no longer rely on dim lights or candles at night, that she would now have a fetal Doppler to help her detect the fetal heart rate during labor. “By the grace of God, you have come,” she whispered. I called Fanny recently and she excitedly reported that mothers are much more motivated to give birth at the health center, that she no longer has difficulty suturing or delivering babies at night, and that her cell phone is always charged and available for emergency calls. One delivery where the fetal monitor and solar lighting had been lifesaving really touched me. “We had a woman who was in labor one night and was not pushing with enough effort. I used the fetal Doppler to listen to the baby and realized the baby was in distress. It needed to be delivered quickly. I used the vacuum extractor to help pull the baby out. We then had to resuscitate the baby. With this help, the mother and baby were fine! The Solar Suitcase helped to save the baby.” Stories like this one remind us of how crucial it is for health workers to have the tools they need to save lives. Since inception, we have provided support to health workers like Fanny, and have lit up childbirth for more than 365,000 mothers and infants.
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The Power to Save Lives
We Care Solar Laura Stachel, MD MPH P.O. Box 5765 Berkeley, CA 94705 laura@wecaresolar.org (510) 219-7044 www.wecaresolar.org