A Solar Refrigeration System, Carried by Camels
Reaching the nomadic communities who roam the arid and hot Sahel of Africa with vaccines has always posed an exceptional challenge to health workers, particularly because vaccines need to be refrigerated. (See past posts on the Ice Battery.) National immunization programs to eliminate serious diseases like polio and measles rarely benefit pastoralist communities in Kenyan districts like Laikipia and Samburu, nor do those communities often get access other medications requiring refrigeration.
In the last two years, a team of designers, health workers, and development experts from Designmatters at the Art Center College of Design, Princeton’s Institute of Science and Technology of Materials, and the Mpala Community Trust has conceived and rolled out a clever mobile, refrigerated health clinic using solar energy and camels.
While the mobile health clinic still relies on vehicles to carry the supplies to the camels, once they're loaded up the camels transport supplies to remote areas, where local health staff travel by bicycle and foot between camel camps and communities.
In transit, the lightweight, foldable solar panel powers the camel-pack refrigeration system.