Samira Bawumia launches solar power initiative for underserved maternity facilities in Africa

Former Second Lady Samira Bawumia has launched an initiative to provide reliable solar electricity to underserved healthcare facilities in Africa, initially focusing on improving maternal and newborn care in Ghana.

The initiative, known as the Powering Safe Delivery Initiative, will equip selected Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds, maternity facilities and primary healthcare centres with solar photovoltaic systems, battery storage and essential maternal healthcare infrastructure.

It was unveiled at a high-level side event at the World Health Organisation (WHO) Pavilion during the COP31 climate conference in Antalya, Türkiye.

The Africa Women and Youth Climate Centre (AFRYWOCC), founded by Mrs Bawumia, was established in collaboration with the Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Studies (C3SS) at the University of Ghana and Minagie Energy.

The initiative seeks to address electricity challenges that affect the delivery of essential maternal and neonatal services, including nighttime deliveries, emergency procedures, medical monitoring, sterilisation and the refrigeration of medicines and vaccines.

Across Africa, approximately 178,000 mothers and one million newborns die annually, many from preventable causes, according to figures cited by the initiative.

Unreliable electricity remains a challenge for healthcare facilities, particularly those serving remote and underserved communities, where power interruptions can disrupt essential services and limit the capacity of health workers to respond to emergencies.

In Ghana, institutional maternal mortality increased from 109.22 per 100,000 live births in 2023 to 110 in 2024, while skilled delivery coverage declined from 60.6 per cent to 55 per cent over the same period.

Speaking at the launch, Mrs Bawumia said maternal healthcare must become a central consideration in Africa's climate adaptation and energy transition plans.

"No woman should have to risk her life giving life simply because the lights went out," she said.

She noted that women in remote communities often depend on healthcare facilities that lack reliable electricity, potentially compromising the quality of care available during childbirth.

The Powering Safe Delivery Initiative builds on the Safe Delivery Project under the Samira Empowerment and Humanitarian Projects (SEHP).

The project has distributed more than 11,000 birth kits to expectant mothers in underserved communities in Ghana and trained 324 community-level personnel, including 164 health workers and 160 traditional birth attendants.

Mrs Bawumia said that while the interventions had helped improve access to essential delivery supplies and maternal health education, electricity shortages remained a critical gap.

"We can equip a mother with the delivery kit. We can train the midwife who attends to her, but if the facility has no electricity when complications arise, we have left a critical part of the problem unsolved," she said.

The new initiative is intended to extend support beyond mothers and healthcare workers to the facilities where women give birth, providing reliable and climate-resilient energy to sustain essential services.

Beyond its expected health benefits, the initiative is also intended to create opportunities for young people through technical training, local maintenance services and employment in the renewable energy sector.

Mrs Bawumia described the intervention as an example of climate adaptation that can deliver practical benefits to vulnerable communities while demonstrating how decentralised renewable energy can strengthen essential public services.

She called for a structured partnership involving AFRYWOCC, Minagie Energy, the University of Ghana and development partners to identify vulnerable healthcare facilities, assess their energy needs, mobilise financing and establish sustainable maintenance arrangements.

Ghana will serve as the starting point for an initial pilot, with plans to develop a model that can be replicated in other African countries.

Mrs Bawumia has urged governments, development finance institutions, philanthropic organisations and private sector partners to support the initiative.

She said reliable electricity in maternity facilities should be treated as an essential component of healthcare infrastructure and climate adaptation, rather than a supplementary service.

She also called for climate finance commitments to translate into practical investments that protect lives, strengthen healthcare systems and improve resilience in underserved communities.

"I do not want us to leave Antalya with only photographs and speeches and expressions of goodwill. I want us to leave with a shared determination to identify our first facilities, mobilise the necessary resources, and then begin implementation," she said.

She said the initiative's progress would be assessed by the number of healthcare facilities powered, health workers supported, mothers receiving improved care and newborns given a safer start to life.