Electrification of Six Health Centres in Rhino Camp and Imvepi Refugee Settlements

Electrification of Six Health Centres in Rhino Camp and Imvepi Refugee Settlements

Background

Uganda is one of the twenty countries with the largest population that lacks access to electricity, with only 43% of the population having access. The importance of reliable, sustainable and accessible energy for health centres is undebatable. Based on the results from the 2007 Uganda Service Provision, 58% of health facilities did not have access to electricity and only 15% had “reliable” electricity. When further disaggregated by type of health facility, 60 % of lower-level health facilities lack access. Given this background, the GIZ projects Energy Solutions for Displacement Settings (ESDS) and Energising Development (EnDev) intended to provide and install OGS PVS for 6 purposefully selected health centres located within Rhino Camp and Imvepi Refugee Settlements in Terego and Madi Okollo districts of Uganda in 2021. This article provides a summary of the baseline assessment results that was conducted in 2021 prior to the electrification of these six health centers.

Baseline Assessment Results

Selection of health centres

Five health facilities fall under the direct managing authority of the Ministry of Health (MOH) and one health facility is under the direct managing authority of International Rescue Committee (IRC). Regardless of managing authority, all health facilities receive support – technical, infrastructural, staffing, and other – from the Ministry of Health, a multitude of implementing partners, and UNHCR. The managing authority of health facilities have important implications on the engagement of stakeholders for ownership, maintenance, and sustainability of the OGS PVS assets.

General health facility characteristics (data collected from 2021 Baseline Health Facility Survey)

Health Center	Refugee Settlement	District	Health Facility Level	Managing Authority	Years of Service	Catchment Population
						Refugee	Host	Total
Imvepi HC II	Imvepi	Terego	HC II	MOH	26	19,668	3,224	22,892
Yinga HC III	Imvepi	Terego	HC III	MOH	25	10,813	7.351	18,164
Siripi HC III	Rhino Camp	Terego	HC III	MOH	27	13,090	5,500	18,590
Ofua HC III	Rhino Camp	Terego	HC III	IRC	5	26,952	Unknown	Unknown
Ocea HC II	Rhino Camp	Madi Okollo	HC II	MOH	26	18,428	3,729	22,157
Odoubu HC II	Rhino Camp	Madi Okollo	HC II	MOH	29	12,461	4,500	16,961

Baseline: Electrification Status

None of the six health centres were connected to the national or community grid. However, all six health centres had at least one partially function OGS PVS and 3 health facilities had at least one diesel generator. Five had standalone EPI solar refrigerators to store and ensure cold chain of vaccines and oxytocin. Four had a We Care Solar installed to charge small devices, such as the HemoCue, Foetal Doppler, and mobile phone, and only 3 of the We Care Solar are functional as the battery of the We Care Solar was stolen at one facility. Finally, Two health facilities had Mobile Power (MoPo) power banks to provide additional power

Reliability of Electricity from the solar system

The table below shows the reliability of the solar electricity where the different colour shows the different reliability status

Reliability of Solar Electricity Measure 1: During the last 7 days, was electricity at all times from the main or any back up sources when the facility was open for services? 1=Always available (no interruptions) – green 2=Often available (interruptions of less than 2 hours per day) – yellow 3=Sometimes available (frequent or prolonged interruptions of more than 2 hours per day) – red Measure 2: How many days during the past week was electricity not available for at least 2 hours during a time the facility was open for services? This includes emergency services. 0-7
Reliability of Electricity	Imvepi HC II (Imvepi)	Ocea HC II (Rhino Camp)	Odoubu HC II (Rhino Camp)	Yinga HC III (Imvepi)	Siripi HC III (Rhino Camp)	Ofua HC III (Rhino Camp)
Outpatient	7	7	3	6	7	7
Pharmacy	7	7	3	6	7	7
Laboratory	7	7	3	6	7	7
Inpatient ward	0	Not wired	0	7	0	7
Maternity	0	7	0	7	0	7
HIV/TB Clinic	7	7	3	7	7	7
Nutrition Ward	N/A	N/A	N/A	7	N/A	7
SGBV Protection House	Not wired	N/A	3	0	N/A	N/A
Security Guard House	Not wired	Not wired	Not wired	7	Not wired	Not wired
Staff Quarters	7	7	3	7	7	7
		7
		7
		7
		7
		7
Isolation Ward	Not wired	Not wired	Not wired	Not wired	Not wired	COVID19 – 0
						TB ward not wired
Latrines + Bathing Shelters	Not wired	Not wired	Not wired	Not wired	Not wired	Not wired
Security lights	Gate - 7	IPD - 7	N/A	Gate – 0	0	0
				IPD – 0
				Isolation – 0
	Staff quarters - 0	Latrine - 7		Maternity - 7
Medicine Stores	7	7	0	6	7	7