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Power and ice: keeping vaccines cool to save lives




New Scientist (26 May 2012) poses the problem that remote areas in developing countries have in keeping vaccines cool, especially when power is unreliable. The vaccines are required to immunise children against diseases such as polio, measles, and diphtheria.

Hospitals and clinics in remote communities remain on edge when power fails and their back-up generators run out of fuel. Hospital workers often have to drive to the nearest major city to put their stock of vaccines in refrigerators in city hospitals.

A pilot project run by the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia suggested using surplus power from cellphone towers to run refrigerators needed to keep the perishable vaccines cool (New Scientist, 18 September 2010). The idea is being piloted in 10 church-run hospitals in Zimbabwe, with the support of Econet Wireless, a cellphone provider based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Cellphone providers have to keep their towers working reliably, even in areas with intermittent power, so they install generators and sometimes solar panels. Surplus power from the towers can be used to chill the vaccines.

Another means of keeping vaccines cool is to use fridges that can keep cool for 10 days without power even in locations with temperatures above 40C degrees. Currently fridges such as those by True Energy of Tywyn in the United Kingdom are able to maintain their cooling for up to 10 days. The fridges also have sensors to monitor inside and outside temperatures which can detect when the door is open. In the Zimbabwe pilot project, this data is relayed to the cellphone network allowing Econet to know immediately whenever cooling is at risk. The fridges are accommodated in a shelter at the base of a cellphone tower or in the hospital if it is nearby.

A similar pilot project in India between the non-profit Energize the Chain organization and cellphone providers, Vodaphone and the Karuna Trust, includes a controlled experiment to confirm if sites powered by cellphone towers have less vaccine spoilage. Spoilage can be checked because vials of vaccines can have labels that darken if exposed to heat.

UK consultant, Anthony Battersby, proposes another idea. If high-tech fridges fail, he suggests making ice at the cellphone towers instead, then moving the ice to coolers in clinics.

The message of the pilot projects and alternative suggestions is that it doesn’t matter whether high-tech or low-tech is initiated as long as vaccines are maintained at a constant cool temperature to avoid spoilage to ensure that children continue to be immunized against life-threatening diseases.

(www.scientist.com)


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