Author: Luc Severi (Luc Severi)

On November 19, 2017 three babies at Bo Government Hospital died when a power shortage stopped their oxygen supply. Michael Liebreich, Founder and CEO of Liebreich Associates and founding member of the High Level Advisory Group for the UN Sustainable Energy for All initiative, established Project Bo to see that this never happens again. In this blog, Michael tells his personal account of getting Project Bo off of the ground and offers advice for anyone starting a similar project and key messages for the multilateral donor community.

Vaccine delivery falls at the intersection of health systems and energy access, as immunizations require a cold chain, or temperature-controlled supply chain, to maintain product quality during transport. The World Health Organization estimates that one quarter to half of vaccines are wasted each year, largely due to failures in the cold chain. Better vaccine storage and more reliable sources of electricity can decrease vaccine waste and increase vaccine coverage, which is especially important for clinics at the primary level of health systems.

Since mid-2017, more than 723,000 Rohingya refugees have fled from Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh, where services are stretched beyond their limits. The massive global humanitarian response has been addressing immediate needs, such as access to clean water, shelter, and health services. To learn more, we spoke with Dr. Mahmood from the Hope Foundation, who has recently partnered with SolarKiosk and others to deploy reliable energy solutions to power up essential health services.