Light her

Light HER aims to design and manufacture compact solar electric systems and distributes these to off-grid health centers to ensure health workers have essential electricity for life-saving care. Ghacaf in partnership with we care solar (USA) aims to deploy over 500 Solar suitcases to about 200 medical centres in Rivers state Nigeria. Our rugged, complete solar electric systems provide medical lighting, fetal heart rate monitoring, and 12VDC charging for phones and other devices. Our capacity building workshops provide local technicians with the skills to install and maintain our devices. Our Women Solar Ambassador Program promotes women as solar trainers and installers.

Maternal mortality worldwide accounts for 300,000 deaths a year; 99 percent of these occur in underdeveloped countries. For every maternal death, at least 20 women suffer severe complications from childbirth. Maternal mortality worldwide accounts for 300,000 deaths a year; 99 percent of these occur in underdeveloped countries. For every maternal death, at least 20 women suffer severe complications from childbirth. Major causes of maternal death include obstetric hemorrhage (massive bleeding from childbirth), obstructive labor (labor where the mother is unable to deliver the baby), eclampsia (life threatening seizures related to high blood pressure), and sepsis (widespread infection). These emergencies cannot always be predicted, nor are they always preventable. However, with prompt, appropriate and reliable medical care, they are unlikely to result in loss of life.

Sporadic electricity impairs the operation of surgical wards, delivery wards, essential hospital equipment, and hospital communications. This compromises the ability of health workers to provide safe, appropriate and timely medical care. Labor and delivery nurses cannot quickly notify on-call physicians of emergencies. Midwives and physicians are forced to make treatment decisions without the benefit of necessary diagnostic tests. Obstetric procedures and emergency surgeries are conducted under grossly suboptimal conditions, and can have tragic consequences

The Solar Suitcase is a rugged, easy-to-use solar electric system that includes medical-grade LED lighting, a fetal heart rate monitor, phone chargers, and 12VDC charging for medical devices. The are designed to work day after day without fail and require minimal maintenance. We partner with UN agencies and international NGOs to implement our programs, building local capacity by training health technicians to install our technology and to train health workers on their optimal use.

Light her project seeks to serve some of the most impoverished populations in Africa especially Nigeria before we scale to other countries.. The majority of our programs are in rural communities where families live in extreme poverty. Primary beneficiaries of our work include (1) families in need of frontline health services, (2) vulnerable mothers and their newborns, (3) healthcare workers in remote health centers, and (4) government ministries striving to improve obstetric care.

The award-winning We Care Solar Suitcase is an economical, easy-to-use portable power unit that provides health workers with highly efficient medical lighting and power for mobile communication, computers, and medical devices. By equipping off-grid medical clinics with solar power for urgent medical care, Light her reduces maternal and infant morbidity and mortality and improves the quality of care in Africa. 

Our new and improved version 3 comes with a variety of specifications that allow for improved user experience and greater longevity. Some key improvements over previous versions include:

• Improved user interface means medical professionals can concentrate on medicine, not monitoring a power device.

• Native Lithium Battery support allows built-in accurate battery fuel gauging and protections.

• Lights with variable output allow bright light when needed, power conservation when bright light is not needed.

• Larger internal battery allows for a minimum of 240 watt-hours of energy storage, enough to run four lights on high for 12 hours, or on low for 60 hours.

• Designed for easier installation, making installations faster and less prone to mistakes.

• Potential for remote monitoring so the system can communicate its status to service personnel.

Key design features include:

• Whole System Integration – The lighting, appliances, and power production components are delivered as one unit, designed for daily use.

• Safety – The LFP batteries can safely be stored inside health facilities; the low-voltage DC system avoids shock hazard and includes over-current protection.

• Low Maintenance – There are no fuses to replace and no regular battery maintenance is required. Battery replacement is estimated to occur every five years.

• Durability – Our high quality components are designed for longevity, even in harsh environments.

In response to requests for solar electricity from primary health centers, Light Her in alliance with we care Solar designed a compact solar electric system that was portable and fit in a suitcase. The “We Care Solar Suitcase” powers overhead LED lighting, charges cell phones, and includes LED headlamps that come with their own rechargeable batteries. The first deployment of these systems occurred in June 2009. Since then, these systems have been introduced in more than 20 countries for use in health care and emergency response: in Haiti, to aid medical relief teams after the 2010 earthquake; in Liberia, where we first worked with the World Health Organization in 2011; in Uganda, where we first partnered with AMREF and Safe Mothers, Safe Babies; in the Philippines, in response to Typhoon Haiyan in 2013; and in Nepal, after the 2015 earthquake.

Our Solar Suitcases are user-friendly, robust, durable, and nearly maintenance-free. They work in mobile settings or can be easily installed in existing hospitals and clinics lacking reliable source of power. Improved surgical lighting, enhanced usage of existing medical equipment, and the support of mobile telecommunication systems reduces delays in providing care, and increases the capacity of health workers to care for patients with obstetric complications. In addition, workers report more confidence in performing skilled care, and no longer fear night duty.

Major causes of maternal death include obstetric hemorrhage (massive bleeding from childbirth), obstructive labor (labor where the mother is unable to deliver the baby), eclampsia (life threatening seizures related to high blood pressure), and sepsis (widespread infection). These emergencies cannot always be predicted, nor are they always preventable. However, with prompt, appropriate and reliable medical care, they are unlikely to result in loss of life.

Sporadic electricity impairs the operation of surgical wards, delivery wards, essential hospital equipment, and hospital communications. This compromises the ability of health workers to provide safe, appropriate and timely medical care. Labor and delivery nurses cannot quickly notify on-call physicians of emergencies. Midwives and physicians are forced to make treatment decisions without the benefit of necessary diagnostic tests. Obstetric procedures and emergency surgeries are conducted under grossly suboptimal conditions, and can have tragic consequences.

We have currently empowered reached over 5213 health centres directly affecting over 20000. We are targeting five critical countries with high rates of maternal mortality and inadequate energy access: Liberia, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe and Tanzania. We aim to reach more than 8,000 centers in the first five years, serving millions of mothers and newborns.

Our goal for the next one to five years is to reach more than 10 million mothers and new born while also empowering over a million health centres across Africa and beyound. This is also without prejudice to training more women and young girls in installation, maintenance of the solar case even on a professional basis. 

Our greatest barrier to attainment of our goals is acquisition of funds to scale up our product looking at the financial implications in the production of a unit of the solar suitcase. Our other barrier is on getting more partners/ technical supports. 

To overcome the financial barriers, the lead organization and our partners - We care solar is seeking grants from organizations, government, ministries and well as well meaning individuals within the health sector. We are also seeking partnership agreements with both local and international NGOs, COs etc. 

For this project, we have a total of 20 full time staff, 15 part time staff, 50 volunteers and 5 contractors. 

Laura E. Stachel, M.D., M.P.H., Executive Director, the co-founder of We Care Solar, is a former obstetrician-gynecologist with fourteen years of clinical experience. She holds an MD from the University of California, San Francisco and an MPH. in Maternal and Child Health from the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently a candidate for a DrPH degree at UC Berkeley. Laura was the Associate Director of Emergency Obstetric Research in West Africa for the Bixby Center for Population Health and Sustainability. She was the P.I. on a MacArthur Foundation project on We Care Solar Suitcase usage in Nigeria and Uganda, and was co-investigator for a collaborative Population Council study that assessed the standard of maternity care in Nigerian state hospitals. Laura was a staff researcher at the Blum Center for Developing Economies at U.C. Berkeley. She serves on the Editorial Board for the Berkeley Wellness Letter and co-chaired an international working group on Energy and Health for the UN Foundation. Laura has won numerous awards including 2019 Zayed Sustainability Prize, 2017 UN Momentum for Change: Lighthouse Award, 2017 Drucker Prize, Bloomberg New Energy Pioneers, the 2017 National Energy Globe Award, the 2015 UN DESA “Powering the Future We Want” Award, the 2015 UBS Optimus Award, the UCSF Alumni Award, the UC Berkeley School of Public Health Influencers Award, the C3E Leadership in Developing Countries Award, and the Top-Ten 2013 CNN Heroes award, and many others. 

Ghacaf is the lead organization for the project to be executed in Rivers state Nigeria designing , formulating the project while  our partner organization We care solar  provides all the technical and professional angle to the project producing and providing and installing the solar suitcase. 

Ghacaf and We Care Solar recognizes that sustainability is one of the most important aspects of our work. Through our technical design, programmatic approach, and allocation of resources, we aim for Solar Suitcases installed at maternal health facilities to offer reliable lighting and electricity for at least 10 years. We frame our approach to sustainability through three key overarching areas:

Technical

• User-friendly design optimized by more than 10 years of field experience

• Proper sizing of solar panel and battery capacity for maximum lifespan

• Highest quality parts for reliability and durability

• Prevention of user abuse as devices powered by the Solar Suitcase use Direct Current (DC)

• Safety and longevity through protection of system wiring and electronics contained within the Solar Suitcase

• Remote monitoring capacity for Solar Suitcases from 2019 onward

Organizational

• Collaboration with government and private partners to develop and implement country-specific sustainability plans

• In-country capacity building of installers, health workers, and government technicians

• In-country inventory of spare parts to fulfill immediate maintenance needs

• Integration of Solar Suitcases into routine government maintenance of other health facility equipment

• Feedback mechanisms include contact information provided on each Solar Suitcase that health staff can use if there is a problem

Economical

• Donor funding for sustainability is included in funding proposals

• Free remote technical assistance is provided indefinitely in response to Solar Suitcase issues or questions

• Two-year warranty for all Solar Suitcase batteries and key components

• Partnerships with governmentswho agree to provide in-kind support 

• Private partnerships