A rural health system intervention that lasts
More than 100,000 public healthcare facilities in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to reliable electricity. This puts an estimated 700 million people at risk because they cannot access basic the life-saving care power provides -- lighting for nighttime care such as births and emergencies, refrigeration for vaccines, autoclaves for sterilization, concentrators for oxygen, and pumps to provide clean water.
To help close the divide between people and power, RESOLVE launched “HealthGrid” in Sierra Leone, West Africa. HealthGrid is a simple but groundbreaking methodology to install solar electricity systems and internet connectivity at remote, off-grid healthcare facilities, and to keep those systems running long-term.
It shouldn't be a radical proposition. And yet, in the world of international development, maintenance confounds even the most well-intended programs. Installing a solar panel is the easy part. Keeping it running is where the real work begins and where most programs quietly fail. Routine operations and maintenance (O&M) isn’t glamorous and is consistently underfunded. But without it, panels sit idle, clinics go dark, and the communities that were supposed to benefit are left worse off than before. When properly maintained, a solar panel can have a working life of up to ten years. At a remote health facility without O&M support, many don't last one.
Our approach to sustainability is what sets HealthGrid apart. Along with solar power for the health facility, HealthGrid installs a small commercial kiosk with its own mini solar system. The kiosk catalyzes small-dollar but very important business activity in the local community, generating revenue to cover the O&M systems installed at the healthcare facility and kiosk. The kiosk enables community members to charge cell phones and battery powered lights and to purchase baby food, hygiene products and essential items – goods and services that are otherwise only available many miles away. Women’s micro savings and investment groups are responsible for organizing the kiosks and providing oversight for their operations, ringfencing a portion of revenue for equipment maintenance.
In January 2025, HealthGrid successfully completed its pilot in Sierra Leone, including installation of solar-electricity systems and internet at 27 remote healthcare facilities. Additionally, HealthGrid installed robust water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) systems at 8 of the 27 HealthGrid sites via a partnership with World Vision.
HealthGrid has been lauded by Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health, which “views HealthGrid as unique and innovative, particularly in its focus on healthcare facilities in remote, off grid, communities and its commitment to sustainable operations and maintenance support,” Maurice Koroma, Special Advisor to the Minister of Health on Program Quality &Energy.
RESOLVE is now fundraising to expand HealthGrid in Sierra Leone and into neighboring countries. HealthGrid is a health intervention and private sector development solution fit for the moment and fit for the communities where we work.
For more information contact Mason Hines.
At RESOLVE, we’re here to tackle the toughest global challenges. The ones nobody else wants to touch. Where people are in conflict and planet problems are stuck. We’re here to unstick them. It’s not easy. It takes grit and ingenuity. And finding and working with the right partners. But we’re not called RESOLVE for nothing.
