This proposed FAA will enhance the capacity of sierra leone's public health system to serve rural sierra leoneans by providing 31 remote, off-grid, rural health centers with equipment for the…

This proposed FAA will enhance the capacity of sierra leone's public health system to serve rural sierra leoneans by providing 31 remote, off-grid, rural health centers with equipment for the production, storage and distribution of electricity as well as equipment for data connectivity; the FAA will also test a methodology for deploying and operating equipment and services for purifying and distributing water at two of the health centers. Furthermore, the project will advise each health center with respect to the acquisition of medical equipment that would become relevant with a reliable source of electricity, such as refrigerators, examination lamps, computers, blood analyzers, and centrifuges; this advice will help ensure optimal alignment of electricity usage of the medical equipment, given the capacity of the off-grid electricity systems provided by the FAA. The off-grid electricity system will be connected to a platform for remote management to ensure optimal efficiency, maintenance, and data collection. The expected outcomes of the project will be significant, measurable improvements in the health and wellbeing of the communities served by the health centers and - in a broader context - the establishment of a scalable and replicable methodology for providing such investment in remote off-grid health centers in other parts of sierra leone and sub-saharan africa more generally. The microutility systems of this GDA include photovoltaic electricity generation systems, and internet connectivity systems, and IT will test systems for purifying water. Each of these systems is fundamentally important for efficient operation of health centers and the systems are also fundamental for the long-term sustainability model for the overall microutilieis methodology. The GDA partners (orange, resolve, and USAID) have proposed to work with sierra leone's ministry of health and sanitation (mohs) to select the health centers that will participate in the project and have asked mohs to provide general support for the initiative within other ministries and agencies of the government of sierra leone.