MTN Solar Fridges Aiding Covid-19 Vaccinations In Refugee Communities

Posted by: Kyeyune Andrew Jonathan in Uganda news June 26, 2021

MTN Uganda, UNHCR donated solar fridges which have significantly aided vaccination in refugee communities. Incidences of vaccines getting destroyed due to lack of refrigeration were common at the health center that has operated since 2016.

These donations have, however, turned the situation around.

Amos Asiku is the facility in-charge at Bidibidi health centre III in Northern Uganda. He says a vaccine that goes four hours without refrigeration becomes ineffective.

Previously, the health centre had gas-powered fridges with multiple mechanical faults that caused breakdowns very often. This put the vaccines at a risk of destruction.

In addition to that, refilling the gas in the fridge became strenuous. They had to do it from a distant area. This lasted for many days.

‘’It had frequent breakdowns and when it went off, the faster you acted, the better, because the fridge would no longer be regulated, the vaccines would go bad which I termed as wasted because it can no longer be used,’’ Asiku recounts.

In the event of a breakdown, the health centre would move all its vaccines to a nearby government hospital. This would help refrigerate but it would affect operations at the health centre in terms of resources as well as time.

The vaccine shortage challenge affected almost 150 people that visit the health centre on a daily basis. These included women and mothers in search of polio and early immunization vaccines.

However, in a twist of fate, these hurdles the health centre faced became a story of the past. This is after MTN partnered with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and donated a solar-powered fridge. This would later become the salvation to a pandemic in the refugee settlement.

The solar fridges provide large space which has allowed storage of more doses of the vaccine.

Check Also;

This is not a Paywall, but Newslex Point's journalism consumes a lot of time, hard-work and money. That's why we're kindly requesting you to support us in anyway they can, for as little as $1 or more, you can support us .

Please use the button below to contribute to Newslex Point, Inc. using a credit card or via PayPal.