Press Release INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ENEGY SOCIETY NGO RENEWABLE ENERGY SUMMIT May 20-21, 1994, New York, USA Issues of Health Care Delivery From 20-21 May 1994 the Non Government Organisations (NGOs) from around the world met in New York to discuss issues of sustainable development and the interlinkages to renewable energy technologies. This activity was co-ordinated by the International Solar Energy Society (ISES), and sponsored by a number of organisations, such as the International Fund for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, the Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation, the Swedish International Development Authority, United States Agency for International Development, US Department of Energy and the World Resources Institute. The NGO Renewable Energy Summit is part of the International Solar Energy Society's ISES 2000 Initiative. The main objectives of this Initiative are to: Influence the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) to more seriously address the impact of energy within the context of the CSD agenda. Raise awareness amongst the NGO community and governments about the benefits and potentials of renewable energy technologies, and how they can operate to assist in programme delivery for national and global issues of sustainable population growth. The ISES NGO Summit drew attention to the critically important connections between renewable energy and sustainable development. In doing so, it built upon the extensive knowledge and experience which major NGOs from around the world bring to the environmental and development issues central to the CSD and Agenda 21. The issues discussed were not solely renewable energy, but also on the issues of health care delivery which impact upon energy requirements and are impacted upon by the supply of energy. The right to health and access to adequate health care are not only basic human rights, but issues which cut across all areas of human activity. Discussions on the issues of health during the second round of CSD meetings in May 1994 have resulted in a firmer emphasis being placed on the need for more hospitals, medicine and equipment. National resources need to be made to strengthen the financial infrastructures necessary to support these resources, especially with reference to developing countries. At the ISES NGO Renewable Energy Summit, the session on Delivery of Health Care Services looked at the problems currently being experienced within the health sector in relation to sustainable development. It drew out inter-linkages between health programmes and renewable energy technologies and the role which the latter can play in assisting capacity building within the health sector world-wide. The health panel members represented a plethora of experiences. Dr Vinya Ariyartne, a physician specialising in community health, is involved with the Sarvodaya movement in Sri Lanka, an NGO dedicated to the improvement in quality of life for local people. Dr Ariyartne presented the vision of overall health of an individual's living environment and community, as opposed to the narrow definition of delivery of medical services. Health services in Sri Lanka are unevenly distributed, and do not reach those in the greatest need, particularly children, youths and adolescents. There is also a huge requirement for health care services for refugees and in areas of military conflict. Health problems are integrated to total lifestyle concerns. We must address such things as water, sanitation, nutrition as well as energy usage, generation and demand at a local level' Dr Ariyartne said. `But this should be part of a totally integrated policy on behalf of the government, not just ad hoc policies relating to individual issues, without clout and certainly not sustainable. It is not enough for solar to be powering vaccine refrigerators in one remote health clinic, if this is not part of an overall government policy to increase the quality and coverage of health services in a sustainable manner to all sectors of the community.' Dr George Nicholson, Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the University of West Indies, is an active member of the Caribbean Association of Nephrologists and Urologists, an NGO committed to the development of dialysis and renal transplantation. Dr Nicholson looked at the mechanisms by which health care is distributed to the community. He cited great inequity in health service distribution, stating that sustainable development must include economy environment, health and social equity. The efforts of individuals and NGOs seek to redress this current imbalance, and making health care more available to all. The vaccine "cold chain" is a major logistical tool. In many developing countries, a fragile electricity supply and unreliable internal transport systems make preservation of the cold chain difficult to achieve. A possible solution was in the supplement of refrigeration facilities at both central and distant health care clinics and during transportation, by static and/or mobile cooling systems powered by solar energy. Dr Nicholson said `Global efforts at disease eradication through mass vaccination rely heavily on the ability to maintain the cold chain from the factory producing the vaccine to point of use. In many developing countries, a fragile electricity supply and unreliable internal transport system may make the preservation of the cold chain difficult to achieve. A possible solution lies in the supplemenation of refrigeration facilities at both central and distant health clinics, and during transportation, by static or mobile cooling systems powered by solar energy.' Additional applications where renewable energy technologies can improve the delivery of health care services are in sterilisation, provision of clean water, oral dehydration, telecommunications, appropriate housing and TV as an educational tool. Mr Anthony Derrick is an renewable energy specialist with IT Power Ltd in the UK and a member of the World Health Organisation's Solar Task Force. Solar energy has the potential to reduce health hazards in developing countries and to improve the efficiency of health care delivery in rural areas, Mr Derrick said. Every government should have a national policy for implementing solar energy into their health care system. Energy is critical for health development, and good health is crucial for economic and human development. Solar energy has the potential to reduce health hazards in households (such as kerosene lights and smoky, unventilated wood cookstoves), and improve the effectiveness of health care in rural areas by such mechanisms as providing power for lighting, refrigeration and surgery where there is no grid, hot water for bathing and sterilisation, passive solar cooling of buildings and the ability to attract medical staff to remote areas by the provision of power for staff quarters. In rural households, cooking on woodstoves is associated with the increased possibility of contracting lung disease and other respiratory complaints; collecting dung for fuel use puts the collector at risk to disease; carrying fuel for long distances consumes scarce calorific resources and can decrease structural health; kerosene lamps provide poor quality lighting and pose fire risks; and the use of dry cell batteries creates an environmental hazard on disposal. Evaluation studies by the WHO and others gave shown that in rural, off-grid health centres, PV-powered vaccine refrigerators provide more effective vaccine refrigeration than kerosene units. On a life-cycle basis, they are comparable on cost. In terms of reliability and presentation of vaccines, they contribute significantly to improved health care. The link between poor health and inadequate water quality and quantity are well known. More than 20,000 solar pumps for village water supply and livestock watering are now in use. The income from the sale of potable water from a solar pump and revenue from a battery charging station can provide on-going financial resources for sustaining health care services. Recognising the opportunity that solar technologies hold for improving rural heath care, the World Health Organisation has developed a strategy for implementing solar energy technologies into the health care delivery system. The goal is for every developing country to have a short, medium and long term plan for the rational implementation of renewable energy to meet health priorities, using existing recommended technologies, by the year 2000. Top-down decision making cannot be effective. Community based decision is the viable alternative, as a result of a participatory process, including both the community and decision makers in government. Renewable energy technologies can play a vital role in facilitating increased health care delivery (both in terms of quality and quantity). They can also play a vital role in improving community health by displacing existing technologies and practices which are unreliable and whose collection endangers health. Participating NGOs on issues of natural resource management were Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement (Sri Lanka), Caribbean Association of Nephrologists and Urologists (Barbados), Winrock International (USA), Union of Concerned Scientists (India), President's Council on Sustainable Development (USA) FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Jenniy Gregory, ISES, UK: Tel. 44-734-73 0073, Fax. 44-734-730820 National Section, ISES, NOTES: 1. The International Solar Energy Society (ISES) was formed in 1954, as a non-profit organisation, to provide a forum for scientific exchange in the field of solar energy. It is an accredited Non-Government Organisation (NGO) with the United Nations Economic & Social Committee (ECOSOC), and is widely regarded as the foremost global organisation promoting the development and utilization of renewable energies. ISES is now active in over 105 countries world-wide. Its membership includes eminent scientists and researchers, plus many other professionals who are active within the field of renewable energies. It also has members from industry and other private and public organisations. 2. The NGO Renewable Energy Summit was the first in a series of events which are aimed to impact upon the CSD and national governments. Through ISES's new regional offices, further conferences are planned for South Africa, Europe (Greece) and South America (Argentina). These conferences will draw from the conclusions and insights emerging from the NGO Summit in order to identify actions of regional consequence. 3. Technologies which are directly or indirectly fuelled by the sun and which minimise the consequences of energy use can provide sustainable solutions for the supply of energy in both industrialised and developing countries. Solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies have many applications world-wide, and provide an immediate and sustainable way of providing power for uses such as telecommunications, homes, hospitals and health centres in developing countries. Solar drying techniques can be used to dry fruit and vegetables. Solar stills provide fresh water. Solar cookers do not emit pollution or contribute to forest degradation. Clean solar systems can be designed to contribute to the electricity grid (such as PV architecturally integrated into buildings; large centralised solar power stations; landfill gasifiers), power electric vehicles; and provide heat for industrial and domestic applications. In all regions, solar architecture can provide comfortable buildings which are inexpensive to heat and cool and which are comfortable to live and/or work in. 4. The ISES 2000 Initiative, Initiatives of ISES & Recommendations to the CSD is available upon request. Photographs and slides of renewable energy technologies are also available. 5. ISES does not consider large scale hydro-electric power plants to be sustainable or renewable, as they take up vast amounts of land, often displace local peoples, destroy the local environment and effect ecological changes in the land around them and downstream.