“Power” struggle in Asia’s healthcare facilities

January 19, 2023

Electricity has provided people with modern conveniences in areas such as cooking, entertainment, recreation, and transportation, as well as communication, manufacturing, and other activities. Electricity has aided in the advancement of civilization and modern inventions. Aside from these advantages, a large portion of the world’s population is still without or has limited access to electricity. According to the Asian Development Bank, more than 350 million people in Asia have only constrained access to electricity, while 150 million have no access at all (ADB),

As a result of this situation, these sectors have been forced to live with malnutrition, poor living conditions, and limited access to education and employment. Inadequate energy access, according to the ADB, impedes social, economic, agricultural, and manufacturing development.

With the ongoing healthcare crisis affecting Asia’s and the world’s healthcare systems, having no or insufficient electricity would be disastrous to an already overburdened healthcare system.

According to a joint report from the World Bank, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforAll), nearly one billion people worldwide, primarily in low- and lower-middle-income countries, are served by health-care facilities with no or unreliable electricity access.

Access to electricity is essential for providing high-quality health-care services, such as delivering babies, managing emergencies such as heart attacks, and providing life-saving immunization. Universal Health Coverage cannot be achieved without reliable electricity in all health-care facilities, according to the report.

Energizing Health: Accelerating Electricity Access in Health-Care Facilities, a joint report, presents the most recent data on electrification of health-care facilities in low- and middle-income countries. It also forecasts the investments needed to achieve adequate and dependable electrification in health-care delivery and identifies key priority actions for governments and development partners.

Dr Maria Neira, WHO Assistant Director-General a.i. for Healthier Populations, stated that investing in reliable, clean, and sustainable energy for health-care facilities is not only critical for pandemic preparedness, but also for achieving universal health coverage and increasing climate resilience and adaptation. “”Access to electricity in health-care facilities can make the difference between life and death,” she explained.

Power shortage in facilities

Electricity is required to power even the most basic devices, such as lights and communications equipment, as well as devices that measure vital signs like heartbeat and blood pressure, and it is required for both routine and emergency procedures. Critical medical equipment can be operated and sterilized, clinics can keep life saving vaccines on hand, and doctors and nurses can perform necessary surgeries or deliver babies on time.

Despite this, more than one in ten health facilities in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa lack any kind of electricity access, according to the report, and power is unreliable for more than half of facilities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Despite recent progress in electrifying health-care facilities, approximately 1 billion people worldwide are served by health-care facilities that do not have a reliable electricity supply or none at all.

Unequal access

Within countries, there are also significant disparities in access to electricity. Primary health-care centers and rural health facilities are far less likely to have access to electricity than hospitals and urban health-care facilities. Understanding such disparities is critical for determining where actions are most urgently needed and prioritizing resource allocation where it will save lives.

According to a World Bank needs analysis included in the report, nearly two-thirds (64%) of health-care facilities in low and middle-income countries require some form of urgent intervention, such as a new electricity connection or a backup power system, and US$ 4.9 billion is urgently required to bring them up to a minimal standard of electrification.

The report cites the deployment of renewable and clean energies for a variety of reasons.

It said that decentralized sustainable energy solutions, such as solar photovoltaic systems, are not only cost-effective and clean, but also quickly deployable on-site, eliminating the need to wait for the central grid to arrive. Solutions are readily available, and the public health impact would be enormous.

Furthermore, the accelerating effects of climate change are having an increasing impact on healthcare systems and facilities. Building climate-resilient health care systems entails constructing facilities and services capable of meeting the challenges of a changing climate, such as extreme weather events, while also improving environmental sustainability.

SOURCES: https://www.adb.org/what-we-do/sectors/energy/overview#energy-access

https://www.who.int/news/item/14-01-2023-close-to-one-billion-people-globally-are-served-by-health-care-facilities-with-no-electricity-access-or-with-unreliable-electricity

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