CONTEXT

Sub-Saharan Africa is particularly exposed to the impacts of climate change: rising temperatures and changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events are affecting the health and well-being of millions of people. The inability of healthcare facilities (HCFs) to provide equal access to healthcare and quality services is closely related to those increasingly felt impacts. Lack of access to healthcare is widespread due to tremendous energy access issues common to the region.

Approximately 25 percent of health care facilities in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have no access to electricity while a further 28 percent do not have reliable access to power and experience frequent outages that affect the continuity and quality of care. At the same time, advances in medical techniques and devices, technologies for health surveillance and information systems as well as the development of vaccines and treatments that often require refrigeration, are driving not only growth in healthcare expenditures but also the energy intensity of healthcare services. The availability of sustainable cold chains to safely store and preserve medicine, vaccines as well as food was already inadequate and has now become more urgent with the COVID-19 pandemic.

PROJECT

BASE is partnering with SACREEE to support the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with the development of a Green Climate Fund (GCF) Funding Proposal to equip around 2,000 rural and urban public health centers across Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe with renewable energy services and climate adaptation measures. The regional programme acts as a cross-cutting intervention that seeks to ensure adequate operations and maintenance of energy systems, address affordability constraints and climate adaptation needs, and mobilise private sector investment without requiring full upfront payment for the energy systems by the public health facilities.

Given that Africa already suffers a high burden of climate-sensitive diseases, the programme strengthens existing health surveillance and information systems by integrating climate and health data. The programme interventions enable a better understanding and prediction of the impacts of climate change on diseases and disease outbreaks, creating conditions for preventive early actions to protect public health. The project can improve healthcare access for almost 15 million people through these measures, where 50 per cent of the direct beneficiaries are women, reduce more than 675,000 tonnes of carbon emission equivalent over the project lifetime, and prioritise a balanced approach between adaptation and mitigation. To holistically address the climate change problem the health sector of countries in SSA is facing, UNDP is partnering with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL).

BASE is leading the development of the full Funding Proposal as well as the financing components, while SACREEE is responsible for conducting the feasibility study and market assessments and the provision of local intelligence and network. 

The programme includes among others the following elements: 

• De-risking: The programme includes financial (and non-financial) risk mitigation mechanisms that enable the participation of the private sector (including financial institutions, renewable energy providers, developers, etc.). 
• Rollout of a sustainable business model that builds long-term commitment between public and private sector: Develop a new contracting modality to provide energy services that address sustainability shortcomings of previous electrification models.
• Strengthen climate and health integrated surveillance and information systems: Tools and collaborations for the establishment of health surveillance that integrates climate data into information systems will facilitate appropriate planning, management, and decision-making in the face of a changing climate and extreme weather events at the ministerial and healthcare facility level
• Technical assistance: The programme includes activities to build the capacity of stakeholders in renewable energy business models for the off-grid electrification of healthcare facilities at the national and healthcare facility level 
• National and regional knowledge exchange: The Programme includes the establishment of knowledge platforms to facilitate the dialogue with public authorities in the targeted countries, ensure replication and scaling of best practices and support governments to overcome common challenges at the energy-climate-health nexus in the five target countries.