Demand riskHealthcare

VIDA use case: Healthcare electrification

Industry	Healthcare
Infrastructure type	Distributed renewable energy
Risk types	Demand risk, location risk
Location	Senegal, Sierra Leone, Niger, Kenya, Uganda
Users	USAID Abt Associates
VIDA value	Supporting the assessment and prioritisation of thousands of health facilities for electrification demand risk Customisation of a user workspace with data layers on the surroundings or healthcare facilities (number of people, road accessibility, and more) Continuous tracking of investment objectives and progress
Impact	9,120 locations assessed and ranked for electrification investment potential, creating more reliable healthcare access for millions of households.

Across Africa, at least 100,000 healthcare facilities lack access to reliable energy. But clinics need electricity to reliably provide their patients with oxygen, refrigerate vaccines, run incubators or operate during nighttime hours.

HETA, a project funded by USAID and Power Africa, seeks to electrify 100,000 healthcare facilities in five years.

The challenge was – where to start? Building renewable energy infrastructure just to power up a single healthcare facility is often not viable for investors. They need to reliably assess the demand risk of the surrounding area, too: What is the surrounding commercial ecosystem like? How many households might benefit from energy access? VIDA offers a unique data-based approach to understanding location context so that investors can make better decisions, generating maximum impact and return on investment.

VIDA software with mapped healthcare facilities in Uganda.

We started with Senegal, Sierra Leone, Niger, Uganda and Kenya and customised our software for this use case, working closely with stakeholders. Our map-based workspaces show healthcare facilities across these five countries as well as the broader catchment area of each facility – is there commercial activity? Is there road access to neighbouring towns? What kind of energy is used?

A healthcare site Tiriri HC IV with its catchment area (green) and the grid lines (yellow). It can be seen that the grid lines connect some health centres and other health centres are off-grid.

In this way, we helped our users pre-select 9,120 locations for investment across the five countries. In Francophone Niger and Senegal, the software can also be available in French.

We’re proud to support the resilience of Africa’s healthcare system. Among other benefits, this will be critical for adapting to climate change and addressing epidemics.