LIGHT2SAVE

As public health departments brace themselves for the spread of covid 19, health centers in LMICs face an additional burden: the lack of reliable lighting and electricity. Without electric lights, health workers cannot safely provide essential health care and infection control. They are compromised in their ability to properly examine , diagnose and treat, conduct essential medical procedures and perform life saving obstetric care. 

The solar suitcase to be deployed to these off grid health centres is a rugged, easy to use solar electric system that includes medical grade LED lighting , a fetal heart rate monitor, phone chargers and 12 VDC charging for medical devices. They are designed to work day after day without fail and require minimal maintenance. The solar suitcase is designed to be safe , easy to install and easy to use. It includes four water resistant, break resistant medical LED lights, USB ports for charging phones and 12 VDC charging ports for additional devices. The solar suitcase includes an electronic fetal heart rate monitor with rechargeable batteries. To respond to the ongoing pandemic, the solar suitcase will be equipped with electronic infrared thermometers. The solar suitcase was designed for harsh environment and durable. It includes all the hardware for installation, high efficiency, bright medical lights that last 70,000 hours. The maintenance free lithium battery last for 5 years before requring an easy replacement. The solar panel and battery are adequately sized to allow the system to be used 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our patented power system, lights, user interface, trainings and after market support are designed specifically for medical staff in extremely remote , underserved parts of the world. 

Light2Save , serves some of the most impoverished populations in Africa. This project is solely designed for off grid health centres and health workers in rural communities in Oyigbo Rivers State Nigeria covering 24 health centres in kom-kom, Obeama and Izuoma. The primary beneficiaries of this laudable project include 

1. Families in need of Frontline health services

2. Vulnerable mothers and their new borns

3. Health care workers in remote health centers and 

4. Government ministries striving to improve obstetric care. 

Ghacaf is made of project management graduates, public administrators, accountants and social equity sector volunteers. The team is headed by Ambassador Ibe Obinna Goodluck, a world literacy foundation USA ambassador representing Nigeria who also doubles as a children book author under same organization. He is also an Africa change makers cohort 2 member, young Africa leadership Initiative network member, and a young youth minister of the gospel overseeing a branch of a fast growing ministry under Dominion City world wide. The team has 8 BOT members comprising of 5 females and 3 males, with 10 paid staffs within the headquarters and over 200 volunteers spread across countries like Ghana, Cameroon, Gambia, Zambia Mauritania. 

All funds are managed through her internal audit approval mechanism led by the head Audit department with the direct involvement of the Accounts, finance and admin offices. It is worthy of note that so far all projects have been executed through yearly BOT contribution and our top funder - Riches of salvation global ministry through her founder ( Pst. Uche Alfred). 

Solve MIT as a notable name in identifying and rewarding noble projects affords us the opportunity to publicly expose our project while also seeking funds to move it from just another idea to reality. This platform affords us the platform to network with other great minds globally thereby leveraging on best practices as possible and available

Unlike the conventional solar system, the use of the solar suitcase has

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.

Through Light2Save We envision a world where all families have access to safe, reliable health care. We will have achieved success when all health workers have the power to save lives and mothers and babies no longer die of preventable causes during child birth. In the next one year, we anticipate replicating this laudable project to other parts of Rivers State covering about 100 local health centers while in our 5 year projection, we anticipate to reach over 1000 health centers with this laudable health care product. 

This laudable project seeks to address health and wellness especially the obstetric care needs of indigent mothers and their newborns through equipping of local health centers to carry out midnight obstetric services. This will be tracked on the basis reduction in infant morbidity and maternal mortality , climate action by replacing CO2 generating sets with renewable energy products and gender equality by exposing young female local health centers to trainings and skills in solar installation and maintenance thereby creating a level playing ground for them to compete favourably in the workplace. This is also without prejudice to economic and financial empowerment of these indigent women health workers.

It is worthy of note that this laudable project is a scale up of already executed projects using the solar suitcase. To this end, Light2Save will help restore hope to the hopeless local health centers, indigent pregnant women and their newborns who will no more be victims of mortality and morbidity but become beneficiaries of a grade system medical equipment that also helps lighting their faces while their deliveries are being taken. With Light2Save, obstetric care services within local health centers in Oyigbo Rivers State Nigeria will drastically increase by 60%.

The award-winning We Care Solar Suitcase® is a robust, easy-to-use solar electric system that provides last-mile health facilities with highly efficient medical lighting and power for mobile communication and small medical devices.  The We Care Solar Suitcase was designed to support timely and efficient emergency obstetric care, but can be used in a range of medical and humanitarian settings. The water-and-dust tight yellow case becomes a cabinet that mounts to the wall and the solar panels are secured to the roof. The system includes a 12V, 20Ah lithium ferrous phosphate battery, four high-efficiency LED lights for medical task lighting, two 12V DC accessory (lighter) sockets, two USB ports, and two expansion ports to allow for optional accessories or additional lights. A custom display and user interface make operation simple and intuitive. The Solar Suitcase also includes two rechargeable headlamps, a fetal Doppler with rechargeable AA batteries, an infrared thermometer with rechargeable AAA batteries, and an AA/AAA rechargeable battery charger.

Ghacaf as an African organization cuts across all religions, backgrounds, ethnicity etc and as such embraces within her team the girl children and women in general who are incorporated into her project execution and monitoring team as enshrined in her working documents. It is worthy of note that all projects before execution must be voted for to represent the true need of our target beneficiaries and afterwards, the beneficiaries must also form part of the adhoc project design and implementation team. We also uphold the philosophy of " Our project by us" which upholds 40-60% representation in both recruitment, employment etc. 

As a social enterprise, it is worthy of note that all our projects are executed to target solely the underserved, disadvantaged, marginalized and off grid girl children and women in general where all products and programs at distributed at no cost where our funders bear the whole cost.

To ensure financial sustainability especially as it relates to this laudable project, Ghacaf is seeking partnership with the state government through the office of the governor while also seeking funding in grants and equity from both private and public local and international organizations. To also ensure replicability outside grants which may be delayed, Ghacaf BOT members are pledging all their yearly contribution towards this project. 

Financially, we have so far received a donation of $10,000 from our yearly donor - Riches of salvation global ministry while the government representative - The chairman of oyigbo Local Government area has also made a pledge of #100,000 as administrative support for the project.