Kpindi Clinic’s head nurse, Ayi-Ata Kuevy, next to the newly installed solar suitcase.
The Kpindi Clinic is a public health center that serves a population of almost 6,000 in rural, northern Togo. The community relies on the health center for all basic health services and the lack of electricity at the health center is a major barrier to providing quality care. Until quite recently there was no form of power at the Kpindi Clinic. In 2015 a German NGO installed solar panels to run a refrigerator that assures the cold chain needed for life saving vaccines. However, the center continued to suffer with nighttime child-births and emergency consultations that took place in the dark. This past Friday was a historic moment for the community: a solar suitcase was installed that now provides light in the delivery and consultation rooms.
We Care Solar generously donated this innovative solar power source to Hope Through Health to provide power for the Kpindi Clinic. Hope Through Health also partnered with local technicians to install the solar suitcase. The technicians were impressed with the quality and comprehensiveness of the solar suitcase, saying that they could tell the equipment was high quality and that nearly everything they needed for installation was included. Their expertise, paired with a HTH staff member’s English skills to read the Solar Suitcase manual, provided for a efficient and effective installation. The clinic staff helped decide where to strategically place the solar suitcase so that the LED lights could reach both the consultation room and the delivery room. The lights were strung through the drop ceiling into the respective rooms to limit the amount of exposed cords. The technicians and the HTH team took the time to thoroughly explain how the suitcase works as well as the other equipment included in the kit to ensure proper use. HTH’s Clinical Mentor will perform follow up visits to make sure that the suitcase continues to function well and is being used properly.
Solar technicians setting up to mount the solar panels on the Kpindi Cinic’s roof.
The Kpindi clinical team was extremely grateful, proud and excited to benefit from the solar suitcase. They were already planning schedules for charging cell phones and discussing how many more tasks could be accomplished in the evening hours. They felt certain that having electricity in the center would encourage more of the community to come to the center to deliver or when they are sick.
The solar technicians were also extremely impressed with the set up, and asked to take photos and documentation of the solar suitcase to show their collaborators in the Ministry of Public Works to see if the solar suitcase could not be used in other centers across Togo. Hope Through Health is deeply grateful to the team at We Care Solar for their generous donation of this solar suitcase, which is clearly improving healthcare services for the communities of Kpindi in northern Togo.