Page 4 - AsiaElec Week 03 2023

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

1bn face healthcare

without power

GLOBAL Nearly 1bn billion people in low- and middle-in- standard of electrification.
come countries across Asia and Africa lack Without a steady supply of electricity, health-
access to health facilities with reliable electricity, care services like childbirth, emergency care, and
meaning that access to power is a matter of life vaccinations cannot be adequately provided.
and death for 1bn of the world’s most vulnerable Even basic hospital needs such as computers
people. and air circulation systems are useless without
One-eighth of the world’s population cannot the power they need run smoothly.
access the healthcare they need, putting in dan- “Electricity access in health-care facilities
ger development across the globe and making can make the difference between life and death,”
the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) said Maria Neira, assistant director-general for
meaningless. healthier populations at WHO.
In South Asia and Sub-Saharan countries, “Investing in reliable, clean and sustainable
only half of health facilities have reliable access energy for health-care facilities is not only crucial
to electricity, while 12-15%, or 25,000 facilities, to pandemic preparedness, it’s also much needed
have no electricity whatsoever. to achieve universal health coverage, as well as
increasing climate resilience and adaptation.”
Minimum standards The report stressed that the electrification of
A joint report by the World Health Organisa- healthcare infrastructure had long been over-
tion (WHO), the World Bank, and International looked, leaving over 912mn people served by
Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) warned medical facilities with unreliable energy sup-
that electricity was essential for the functioning plies, while 430mn people are treated in facilities
of medical equipment such as ventilators, incu- with no electricity at all.
bators, and cold-chain storage for vaccines. The report is the first to map electricity access
With over 100,000 facilities requiring new in low- and middle-income countries world-
off-grid electrical connections and over 230,000 wide, and revealed large gaps in electricity access
others needing a backup energy system, the in the world’s poorest countries.
World Bank said the report that $4.9 billion In South Asia and Sub-Saharan countries,
would be required to bring them to a minimal only half of health facilities reported having

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