The Bixby Center for Population, Health, and Sustainability
  • About
    • About
    • Mission
    • Vision
    • Goals
    • Where We Work
    • Careers
  • People
    • Team
    • Archive
  • What We Do
    • Core Research
      • Global Population
      • Family Planning
      • Maternal Health
      • Safe Abortion
    • Special Programs & Initiatives
      • The OASIS Initiative
      • Girl-Child Education Initiative
      • Adolescent Reproductive Health
      • Women’s Health and Empowerment
      • Evidence for Development (E4D)
    • Opportunities
      • Internships
      • Volunteering
      • Fellowships
      • Mentorships
    • Teaching
      • Online Courses
      • Past Courses
    • Collaborations
    • Careers
    • Special
  • Publications
  • VSI Archive
  • News
    • News
      • In the Media
      • Press Release
      • Stories from the field
      • Newsletters
    • Events
      • Upcoming Events
      • Past Events
  • Contact

Dr. Laura Stachel of WE CARE Solar wins Gates Grand Challenge on Saving Lives at Birth

July 26, 2012 / bixby / News

Dr. Laura Stachel, Associate Director of West African Emergency Obstetric Research for the Bixby Center, is the Co-Founder and Medical Director of WE CARE Solar. On July 15, 2012, WE CARE Solar and partner AMREF were awarded a Transition to Scale grant, as well as the Peer Choice award that was selected by the innovators themselves, in the Gates Grand Challenge on Saving Lives at Birth.

In Uganda, each year an estimated 6,000 women and 35,000 infants die from childbirth related complications. Access to skilled health care and appropriate technologies can save many lives. But in many countries, the difference between life and death for is dependent upon reliable light and electricity. Without that, health workers cannot provide life-saving care. Midwives struggle to deliver babies by candlelight, life-saving procedures are attempted by flashlight, and patients suffer delays in care or are turned away from health centers unable to function in darkness. Their solution is simple. The new and innovative WE CARE Solar Suitcase is a simple, user-friendly technology that provides a sustainable source of power, allowing health workers to provide life-saving interventions 24 hours a day. The Solar Suitcase makes solar-power accessible, affordable, and useful in developing rural communities. This program ensures Solar Suitcases for 200 health centers and additionally provides an innovative package of interventions to improve service delivery, including a fetal Doppler to detect fetal well-being, phone charging to enhance patient referrals, and a computer to for data entry in the electronic Health Management Information system. By building on the Solar Suitcase to provide this innovative package of interventions, they will meet all three aspects of the challenge: a technological innovation to improve the capacity of health centers enabling better service delivery, ultimately leading to more demand, saving the lives of mothers and children at birth.

More details can be found here.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

    Recent News

    • Quote: Ndola Prata

      Climate–Poverty Connections: Opportunities for synergistic solutions at the intersection of planetary and human well-being

      April 18, 2022
    • Ndola Prata’s Video Presentation: Innovation through Telemedicine to Improve Medication Abortion Access in Musanze, Rwanda

      April 15, 2022
    • a nice woman professor looking at you smiling wearing glasses with curly hair

      Ndola Prata on Tuesday, March 15, 2022, 11:40 am – 12:30 pm PDT

      March 11, 2022
    • Description of Bixby Center's summer internship 2022 and a female student with brown hair sitting and smiling next to the description.

      Bixby Center Summer Internships 2022: application is closed

      January 30, 2022

    Quick Links

    • What We Do
    • Announcements
    • Events
    • Opportunities
    • Careers
    • Stories from the Field

    About

    The Bixby Center for Population, Health, and Sustainability is dedicated to helping achieve slower population growth within a human right framework by addressing the unmet need for family planning. Learn more

    Connect

    University of California, Berkeley
    2121 Berkeley Way West, Suite 6100
    Berkeley, CA 94720-7360
    Contact | Map

    Follow @BixbyCenter

    View Bixby's group on LinkedIn

    ©2021 Bixby Center for Population, Health & Sustainability. All Rights Reserved.
    Web Design by HelloARI
    SPH Berkeley