Solar cures energy ills at Zimbabwe’s power-short clinics
Health centres can now provide improved services while also helping to reduce the country’s carbon emissions
Harare — The giant solar panels mounted on the roof of Budiriro Polyclinic, a public health centre in Harare, bring a smile to the faces of patients, including 40-year-old Alen Tafirei. The steady power supply from the sun means vaccines can be refrigerated, for example, without disruption from frequent outages as in the past. “We are now no longer inconvenienced with excuses from nurses of the unavailability of electricity to cater for some services,” said Tafirei, who was suffering from a bad headache. “Solar helps us quite a lot.” So far, 405 health-care facilities have been equipped with solar systems across Zimbabwe’s 10 provinces, in a partnership between the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and Zimbabwe’s ministry of health and child care. Nonprofit organisation The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria is funding the project. Amid a global trend to equip health facilities in developing countries with solar power systems, Zimbabwe is one of the first to benefit i...
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