Monitoring Vaccine Refrigerators

SELF partnered with PATH, a nonprofit global health organization, to monitor the efficacy of vaccine refrigerators in Haiti. Vaccine refrigerators, also known as cold chain equipment (CCE), are essential for disease prevention but are expensive and highly sensitive.

Despite the critical role they service in public health, there are no reliable mechanisms to track their performance after installation in health care centers in Haiti and elsewhere. As a result, the World Health Organization (WHO) does not have data to reliably judge the efficacy of each brand and model of CCE.

Working closely with the Haitian Ministry of Health, SELF’s skilled technicians visited the same 42 sites once a month to monitor the refrigerators and interview staff. Following the one-year reporting period, SELF analyzed the data and reported back to the WHO. The core findings identified underlying issues with the equipment, which could be remedied with spare components and design changes. The result will ensure vaccines can reach more people in more places going forward.


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SELF is a global leader in the fight against energy poverty. Since 1990, we’ve pioneered unique applications for solar energy, powering progress on food security, health care, education, gender equity, and more. 

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