Microgrids to Provide Life-Saving Benefits to Guatemala Maternal Healthcare Clinics
Schneider Electric and United Solar Initiative announced plans to build microgrids at two maternal healthcare clinics in Guatemala. The microgrids will provide reliable power to the rural birthing clinics, improving the quality and consistency of care, and ultimately, improving maternal health outcomes.
The partnership was announced yesterday at WE’24, the annual conference hosted by the Society of Women Engineers.
"Energy must be a resource accessible to all," said Maria José Bazo, president of the Central American Cluster for Schneider Electric. "At present it still seems inconceivable that energy is not within the reach of many; thousands of people in Central American countries still do not have electricity.”
Schneider Electric is donating $50,000 to United Solar Initiative to fund the installation of microgrids at clinics in San Sebastián Coatán and Santa Eulalia. At an altitude of just over 7,000 feet, the rural communities, largely consisting of indigenous people of Maya descent, are nearly 200 miles northeast of the Guatemalan capital.
In addition to maternal care, the clinics provide preventative primary health care, patient monitoring and evaluation, and support for midwives and Ministry of Health staff.
Reliable electricity addresses healthcare inequalities
Lack of access to health care, including skilled birthing, postnatal and nutritional care, is a leading cause of death for mothers and children around the world. In Guatemala, the situation for indigenous women, like those living in San Sebastián Coatán and Santa Eulalia, is particularly challenging.
New Sun Road was the recipient of the 2024 Greater Good Award for Microgrid of Highest Recognition for its Digital Community Center (DCC) microgrids. The DCCs serve as hubs for digital literacy, entrepreneurship and provide access to online resources for indigenous Maya women in rural Guatemala.
Roughly 79% of Guatemala’s indigenous population live in poverty and the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) for indigenous women is more than twice that of non-indigenous women – an average of 156 deaths per 100,000 live births.
By comparison, the MMR in the United States is 22.3 for every 100,000 live births.
Access to reliable energy has been shown to improve health outcomes for expectant mothers and their children, as Schneider Electric and its partners demonstrated with microgrid installations at three birthing clinics in Kenya.
"Our partnership with United Solar Initiative and Impact Global Health Alliance has already underscored the life-saving impact of microgrids via our deployments in Kenya, where maternal mortality rates have dropped by 83% since the microgrids were deployed in 2019," said Samantha Childress, microgrid partner & strategy director for Schneider Electric."
The Kenyan solar and energy storage microgrids provide consistent power, enabling the clinics in Matongo, Nyagoto and Iranda to provide 24/7 medical care.
“By providing reliable power, expert staff can respond more swiftly to life-saving situations, enhance child nutrition, empower women, and support reproductive education in schools. This investment represents equity in action, delivering both energy and knowledge to underserved communities as they work to ensure healthier futures for their families,” said Andrew Herrera, executive director of Impact Global Health Alliance.
Schneider plans to replicate the Kenyan microgrid model in Guatemala, delivering life-saving reliable energy to expectant and new mothers in San Sebastián Coatán and Santa Eulalia, according to Childress.
“This will help to ensure that mothers don't wonder whether they'll give birth in the dark, or whether there will be electricity to power critical life-saving medical devices – microgrid technologies help to make that possible," Childress said.
