Switching to remote real time surveillance of our Solar Installations and Equipment through the Covid-19 pandemic
Tokozile N. Ngwenya
Covid-19 status in Zambia
During the second quarter of 2021, Zambia experienced the highest positive rates of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic. In the month of June 2021, the highest number of deaths were recorded with Lusaka province considered the epicentre of the virus and Zambia went into a new lockdown. There was a reintroduction of rotational shifts in many workplaces, and of the ones who could, many started working from home. Most Non Governmental Organisations (NGO’s), banned field trips once again to keep staff and rural communities safe.
For SunnyMoney Zambia and the Powering Healthcare pilot, this meant the organisation had to act fast. Several activities were planned, such as the installation of solar systems at seven rural health clinics, installation of a vaccine fridge, as well as monitoring and evaluation.
The upcoming Zambian presidential elections and campaigning also tipped the scale. Several project activities were postponed to after the elections to ensure staff safety
The Frontier Technologies Programme, which is funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, partnered with SolarAid and during the months of April through to June 2021, together with our collaborating partner Churches Health Association of Zambia (CHAZ), we successfully distributed solar-powered non-contact infrared thermometers, pulse oximeters, foetal dopplers, digital blood pressure monitors and one vaccine fridge to offer safe assistance with medical care to seven rural health facilities. However, as we have not been able to physically visit the clinics, we have since engaged two companies to provide remote real time monitoring of the solar systems and the solar refrigerator. Unfortunately, due to the travel Covid-19 restrictions physical monitoring of rural health facilities was halted.
Remote monitoring of solar light systems
During the first quarter of 2021, SolarAid engaged the services of Angaza and Beyond Wireless Technology. Angaza is a large multinational firm that provides services to entities offering energy and connectivity solutions. In short, the system is able to monitor and track pay-as-you-go solar systems wherever they are.
Training and sharing of skills was provided by the Angaza team to SolarAid, and through this, the team has been able to monitor the GPS locations of the solar systems in the unlikely event that they would be stolen from the rural health facility. Through this system, we are now also able to observe the battery voltage, solar panel voltage, solar panel discharge, discharge current, tamper warnings and unit health. This was not possible with the solar lights distributed in the first sprint of the pilot, which were not GPS enabled.
Through periodic observation of the Angaza hub, the team has devised a system to follow up with rural health clinic staff to further investigate any abnormalities recorded in the systems to better understand encounters faced. The call centre team has actively conducted this exercise on a weekly basis. We can report that out of 21 home systems, we are able to monitor 18 daily. One system at Jagaimo RHC is down because of a battery fault. Green Light planet has replaced that battery. SunnyMoney has couriered this battery to the nearest town for the health facility staff to collect.
“I have learnt that the contact person for most of the clinics do not have information concerning the systems installed at their facility, henceforth referring to the second or third person who checks up on the system e.g. caretaker or driver is necessary for the information I need.” Fridah Mulenga, SunnyMoney Call Centre Agent
The two other batteries at Chilala RHC are in use, however because the health facility has extremely poor network, some areas of the clinic are unable to latch onto the network to provide our systems with data. The solution to this problem will be sought during the next monitoring visit where it will be decided as to whether the team should maintain the location of the batteries and use the data provided for one system. The other option will be to move the batteries to clinics areas with better network access.
In addition to comprehending the charts and the readings provided, physical phone calls allow us to have a thorough evaluation of the usage of the solar lights and the alerts provided by the hub.
We can successfully report that our understanding of the systems has greatly improved as a result of the online platform and the qualitative feedback that accompanies it. Qualitative data obtained during the call is collated on a log which then details the next course of action if the issue has not been resolved.
Remote monitoring of solar powered vaccine fridge
Beyond Wireless Technology is an international company that SolarAid engaged to monitor the vaccine fridge installed at Jagaimo UCZ Mission Rural Health Centre.
They provide real-time visibility on the vaccine fridge, sending critical alerts to the team at the central office to ensure that temperature excursions do not degrade or destroy the vaccines stored. The hub which is monitored frequently is able to display the GPS location of the fridge, temperature sensor and power sensor.
It is with great joy that we are able to report that the fridge is working well and the following vaccines are currently being stored; oxytocin which is used to begin or improve contractions during labour, oral polio vaccine, pentavalent- which a combination of five vaccines that prevents diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis b and haemophilus influenzae type b, all through one single dose. The vaccines housed include BCG, or bacille Calmette-Guerin, that is commonly administered to newly born infants to prevent tuberculosis and PVC, Pneumococcal vaccine that can protect against pneumococcal disease, which is any type of infection caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria.
Learnings
We offer the following learning advice from the previous sprint:
- This pilot has deployed solar systems, seven of which are GPS enabled and three which are non-GPS enabled. Our advice to entities wanting to run a similar project would be that although purchasing the GPS solar systems and software to run the real time system is initially expensive at the inception stage, it is worth the cost. The advantages of the GPS system include the ability to track the location of the system, thus curbing theft. The GPS solar systems provide various readings, the battery voltage, solar panel voltage and current, discharge current, tamper warnings and unit health alerts. The system is online and can be accessed by several if not all members of an organisation. As opposed to the non-GPS systems that can only be monitored through physical inspection, many which are in far reaching rural areas, where travel is conducted at a great cost by selected members of a larger organisation. The online monitoring system allows for all individuals to have access to the performance of the solar systems. Detection's of any alerts are flagged almost instantly.
- We found it helpful to consult with similar projects on remote monitoring systems and services that provide real time visibility. This allowed us to know the limitations of various systems, prior to us engaging with them which benefited us with saving our organisation time spent on engaging various systems. Putting our heads together as a team to develop creative, yet effective, ways to meet our sprint assumptions whilst imploring stern quality control checks. It worked well for our team involved in other departments of the organisation, in our case the call centre unit which we had not done before. As this addition worked well for the team, during our next sprint we shall be involving the sales department to accompany us on our physical monitoring visits
- During our analysis, we observed that merging the reports generated from Angaza as well as the qualitative in person feedback from the clinic calls allowed us to better understand and have live feedback as opposed to data feedback on its own. The method of remote monitoring and following up on anomalies works well for providing support at a distance, especially during disruptions such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the lock downs it necessitated
The past quarter has presented itself with unique challenges for Zambia and the whole world at large. However, it is evident that sharing knowledge and experiences within our space has yielded and provided guidance on effective ways to still win.
As we transition into our fourth sprint which brings us closer towards the end of the project, the next post will report strides being made to ensure stakeholder involvement thus positively impacting on the sustainability of the project.
