Uganda turns to solar refrigerators to keep vaccines cool

The government yesterday dispatched 776 pieces of equipment comprising 556 solar direct drive refrigerators and 220 electric refrigerators to districts to ensure safe storage of vaccines in rural health facilities.

This initiative, the Health Ministry and Unicef say, is critical in addressing limited storage capacity and preventing the effect of unstable power supply on proper storage of vaccines in the country.

“These cold chains are so essential because they help us to store the vaccines at the right temperatures because if you store vaccines at the normal temperatures, they will get spoilt and they will not work,” said Dr Diana Atwine, the permanent secretary of the ministry.

Dr Atwine said the dispatched equipment is the third consignment of the programme that Gavi, the vaccine alliance, is supporting but this time it was particularly supported by the World Bank.

“The procurement was done by Unicef. This is part of the solarisation (use of solar) that Gavi has been supporting because they have been putting solar in our facilities and this is going to continue until we cover about 500 facilities. We expect the next batch of about 400, which will be coming by December,” she added.

Dr Robin Nandy, the new Unicef country representative, said the equipment will have a huge impact on the delivery of vaccines, particularly in areas that are hard to reach across the country.

“We are making a shift when we are looking at cold chain. The important thing about vaccines is that they are stored between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius and they are very sensitive to temperature variations –both high temperature as well as freezing,” he observed. 

“So we need to make sure the equipment is in good working condition, there is good power supply, and this is where solar comes in. We will have this equipment where there is no electricity supply and it is also a contribution to climate change mitigation,” he added.

Dr Atwine on the other hand said this initiative is also important and timely as vaccination needs in the country rise. The country is registering increases in the number of children born annually and 13 diseases are vaccinated against up from six killer diseases.

The Ministry said vaccination has contributed to the reduction in diseases, especially those affecting children and also playing a role in the improvement of life expectancy in the country.

“We see now that the life expectancy is increasing and under-five mortality has gone down. We started with vaccinating against six killer diseases and as we talk now, if we start malaria vaccination, it will be the 14th disease we vaccinate against,” Dr Atwine noted.