Strengthening the health care capacity for refugee camps in Uganda

March 12, 2021

After reaching Uganda in March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the many challenges of the healthcare sector – including poor and limited access to lighting.

This not only impacts health centres and ambulance bases, forcing them to operate in the dark, it also hinders the overall functioning of the healthcare system as soon as the sun sets. Providing solar powered lighting to these health facilities strengthens the local capacity to serve the population impacted by COVID-19 in the immediate future, serving as a catalyst to a strengthened healthcare system for the longer term.

This project, funded by the Signify Foundation in partnership with Ministry of Health Uganda, Village Energy, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) began in July 2020 – a crucial response to the COVID-19 pandemic, seeking to improve service delivery for Level III and IV Health Centers across Uganda.

In addition to the solar home systems and lanterns distributed to the health centers, street lights were also installed so as to boost security and provide a safe working space for the healthcare workers during the night.

"The health center previously had solar lights installed, however, we were told the system was faulty and kept switching on and off. So, from 6:30 up to about 8pm, the entire health center located on Muduuma hill some 20kms out of Mpigi Town, was covered in pitch darkness. The midwives resorted to using phone lights to help the mother put to bed. By 7:30pm, the engineers had managed to set up lights in the labour suite, the lavatories and a security light to lighten up the compound for easy access to the maternity ward. The outside light also turned out useful to other expectant mothers who took strolls around the ward waiting for their turn to be attended to.”

This project has help electrify 43 health centers, a protection house, 8 help desks, staff quarters, and 3 base camps all over Uganda and has shown an improvement in service delivery at the facilities. It has also improved security at the health centers and facilities for the health workers and staff. Since the solar systems were installed, the health centers and facilities have been able to provide medical attention to patients for longer hours and have also been able to attend to emergencies during the night.