A Very Bright Idea

Chances are that you or most women you know, upon finding out they’re going to have a baby, make a plan. At some point before the due date, a checklist is covered: feelings toward Cesarean sections; appeal of a water birth; will a midwife or a doula assist? Methods of fetal monitoring are chosen, as are preferences for pain relief from acupuncture to an epidural. Soothing music is selected for the iPod and placed in the hospital bag, the doctor and hospital’s number are always at hand. The list goes on and sure, there is an element of the unknown, complications could arise but there is still a sense of being prepared.

Imagine for a moment, a much larger unknown – that perhaps a doctor could not even be contacted at the onset of labour, that five hospitals may turn a woman away before one is found that has the facilities to take her in. Imagine, while the baby descends into the world, the electricity fails, the lights go out, and both baby and mother are in distress. Got a plan?

After witnessing these often fatal “unknowns” in rural Nigeria, obstetrician/gynaecologist Laura Stachel realized the fundamental importance of reliable electricity. With her husband’s help, she invented the “solar suitcase" to improve lighting and communication in Nigerian health facilities.

Stachel’s plans started to come together when she saw first-hand how energy, or lack thereof, meant the difference between life and death for so many women. She had been invited to the region by the Population Reproduction Health Partnership, a collaboration between UC Berkeley's Bixby Center for Population, Health and Sustainability, and Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital in Northern Nigeria. Stachel's mission was to research emergency obstetrics care in Northern Nigeria, an area that has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world.

Most rural women are impoverished and deliver their babies at home. But if there are complications and if women or children become critically ill and need further help, lack of hospital infrastructure (and more often than not, electricity) often fails them.

“For example” Stachel explains, “the hospital I studied had public electricity from six to 12 hours a day. There was no established phone line in the hospital. The cell phone network coverage in this region is spotty and many people adapt by relying on text messages rather than spoken conversations.”

Stachel, who is certified in Ob/Gyn and holds a masters degree in public health, explains that her advanced training still left her feeling “helpless” in the face of these technical problems.

“My own medical knowledge seemed utterly useless without functional equipment, lighting, and a team of medical staff. I was in the operating room during a C-section when the power went out and the surgeons finished the case using flashlights. I watched helplessly as critically ill women waited for hours for a physician because there was no functional phone system”.

It took the further expertise of her husband, Hal Aronson, who teaches solar electricity, as well as the help of Andrew Sproul, a communications specialist, to put the plan into motion. Aronson is also the co-creator of the Solar Schoolhouse, an educational program in California. Stachel took a one-week intensive course from Solar Schoolhouse to enable her to supervise the installation of a permanent solar electricity system in one Nigerian hospital.

Together, they put together a small demo of the system so they could show it to Nigerian colleagues who could benefit from the initial permanent technology in other hospitals and clinics. In a small kit, they fit a solar electric system that could charge batteries for LED headlamps, power overhead lamps for nighttime deliveries, and power batteries for walkie-talkies. It was so effective and filled such a need that it became an entity in itself, hence “The Solar Suitcase."

Now hundreds of patients are benefiting from the suitcase and receiving more adequate care simply because they have the light to see.

“In the hospital I first worked in, we provided LED headlamps to all of the night duty staff. They told me that they have an easier time providing medication on time, and performing clinical procedures,” Stachel explains.

“When skilled care is needed for emergency surgeries, this is provided without hours of delay. I am told that patients are no longer turned away from the hospital.”

The newest suitcases have been deployed in a primary health care clinic in Northern Nigeria and a small government hospital in the same city. They’ve received interest from the Governor of Kaduna (a state in North-Central Nigeria) who would like to equip more clinics with the systems. They’ve also received interest from other states in Nigeria, as well as from Indonesia, Nepal, and from Pakistan.

The Solar Suitcase is definitely a bright idea which has the potential to make a positive impact anywhere in the world.