We Built a Solar System That's Saving Babies’ Lives — Ep204: Project Bo, Sierra Leone

In Sierra Leone, a 20-minute power cut can be the difference
between life and death for newborn babies. 


In 2013, an extraordinary doctor called Dr Niall Conroy set up a
neonatal intensive care unit at the Bo Government Hospital, in
Sierra Leone's second largest city, and set about training the
staff to give the best possible care to the desperately
vulnerable babies who were admitted. But there was one problem he
couldn't solve: electricity. 


Babies need warmth, and that means electrically powered
incubators, and they need oxygen, which means oxygen separators,
and the nurses need light in order to work. However in Sierra
Leone, there are power cuts almost daily. They can be a few
minutes, they can be hours, or they can last days. 


In 2017, Michael Liebreich heard about this problem and put
together a group of friends and supporters to create Project Bo.
Since then, the neonatal intensive care unit has had a solar
system and batteries installed, and hundreds of babies’ lives
have been saved due to a reliable electricity supply. 


Eight years on, Michael visits Project Bo for the first time to
see how the system is performing, meet the medical professionals
working there, and find out if there's anything else that we can
do to improve it.


Watch on YouTube:


Find the full documentary on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMxJzLNc214


Help Support Project Bo:


More About Project Bo: https://www.projectbo.org/

Our Campaign to Raise $100,000:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/projectbo



Other Organisations Electrifying Healthcare:


Eki Foundation ⁠⁠https://fundacioneki.org/en/

Don Bosco Solar School In Bo⁠: ⁠⁠⁠https://donboscosolar.org/

Powering Healthcare Hub (Sustainable Energy for All):
https://www.seforall.org/programmes/powering-healthcare-hub

We Care Solar: https://wecaresolar.org/

Resilient Power | Power for Health:
https://www.directrelief.org/issue/resilient-power

Kids Operating Room: https://www.kidsor.org/



Leadership Circle:


Cleaning Up is supported by the Leadership Circle, and its
founding members: Actis, Alcazar Energy, Davidson Kempner,
EcoPragma Capital, EDP of Portugal, Eurelectric, the Gilardini
Foundation, KKR, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature
Climate Foundation, SDCL and Wärtsilä. For more information on
the Leadership Circle, please visit
https://www.cleaningup.live. 


Credits:


Presented by Michael Liebreich

Written by Oscar Boyd & Michael Liebreich

Filmed, Produced & Edited by Oscar Boyd

Graphics by Jamie Oliver

Logistics: Jo Jagger & Alexandra McInerney

Special thanks to Dr Niall Conroy, Nurse Juliana Conteh,
Nurse Columbia Samuella Bull, Mohammed Kargbo, as well as to the
team at Bo Government Hospital, and the mothers who spoke with us
for this documentary.