For every 100,000 women who give birth in the United States, around 20 will pass away, either during childbirth or from related complications. In the developing world, rates of maternal mortality are much higher: across most of sub-Saharan Africa, for example, anywhere from 500 to 2,000 women are expected to die per 100,000 births.
Veteran American obstetrician Dr. Laura Stachel was familiar with these statistics when she headed to northern Nigeria in 2008, but she was not prepared for what she would discover. Seven years later, the non-profit she cofounded with her husband Hal has become the first recipient of the United Nations’ new $1 million “Powering the Future We Want” energy grant. Having distributed over 1,000 “solar suitcases” that provide life-saving energy and light in places where they can be hard to come by, We Care Solar is making a dent in a number of the world’s enduring health problems.
Shining More Light upon Decades of Maternal Mortality Progress
In 1990, the World Health Organization decided on a number of ambitious goals, challenging the global community to achieve them before 25 years had elapsed. One of the most pointed of these was the task of cutting worldwide maternal mortality rates 75 percent by 2015.
Much progress has been made, with 45 percent fewer annual maternal deaths today than in 1990, but the goal has not yet been met. Around 800 women still die every day from causes tied to pregnancy or childbirth, with a full 99 percent of these tragedies happening in developing nations.
While the advanced medicine that is the norm in the developed world could help with some of these problems, the vast majority stem from a need for simpler, more fundamental things. As Dr. Stachel discovered during her trip to Nigeria in 2008, midwives and clinicians in developing places are often forced to work under appalling conditions, sometimes even lacking focused or bright enough light to see by.
That leaves women dying before potentially life-saving procedures like cesarean delivery or simple blood transfusions can be administered. Doctors can be forced to choose between trying to operate by the smoky, dim light of dangerous kerosene lamps or waiting for the sun to come up. In many rural villages in the developing world, even basic communication is hard to achieve, with opportunities to charge mobile phones being so scarce that they are rarely turned on.
Upon returning from her trip to Nigeria, Dr. Stachel immediately got to work with her husband Hal, a longtime Bay-area solar educator. Recognizing the difference that reliable, accessible solar power could make for so many people, they designed a suitcase that gives health workers access to much-needed medical lighting, charging for walkie-talkies and mobile phones, and more. Simple to set up and use, the suitcase includes collapsible solar panels and a battery ready to store and convert solar energy to electricity wherever the sun can be found.
Since then, the non-profit has shipped over 1,000 of these devices to health workers and disaster relief efforts in more than 25 countries around the world. With integrated lighting that allows doctors to perform procedures when and where they are most needed and built-in tools like a fetal heart rate monitor, the suitcase contributes to a baseline of medical capability that saves the lives of mothers and their infants.
Since then, the non-profit has shipped over 1,000 of these devices to health workers and disaster relief efforts in more than 25 countries around the world. With integrated lighting that allows doctors to perform procedures when and where they are most needed and built-in tools like a fetal heart rate monitor, the suitcase contributes to a baseline of medical capability that saves the lives of mothers and their infants.
A Million-Dollar Prize for Innovative Ways to Improve Sustainable Energy Capacity
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA) has long pushed for the pursuit of new ways to expand the world’s supplies of sustainable energy and development. With backing from the China Energy Fund Committee NGO, a Hong Kong-based think-tank offshoot of one of China’s largest energy companies, UN-DESA this year awarded a $1 million dollar “Powering the Future We Want,” grant as the first installment of a trial period that is set to continue through 2019.
Abu Dhabi’s in-progress Masdar energy development project received a Special Award under the program, while BYD’s widely deployed electric bus system also took home a one-time special honor. It was the solar suitcase produced by WE CARE Solar that secured the big prize, standing out from a field of 200 grant applicants and 12 finalists to receive $1 million in open-ended funding.
The generous grant now in hand, WE CARE Solar will expand its valuable activities further with a secondary initiative called “We Share Solar” that helps students build valuable, marketable skills as they assemble suitcases for distribution in their home countries and elsewhere.
With the group’s solar suitcases already deployed throughout much of sub- Saharan Africa, Central America, Asia, and the Caribbean, the funding will allow it to make a difference in even more places. Although plenty of work still needs to be done on maternal mortality and other thorny global health issues, groups like WE CARE Solar are making a real difference, particularly when they receive the support and recognition they deserve.
Information sourced from WE CARE Solar, Powering the Future, UN, and Wired.
