The Solar Suitcase Saving Mothers and Newborns

Dr. Laura Stachel arrived in northern Nigeria in 2008 to research why so many women were dying during pregnancy and childbirth. What she found was heartbreaking: expectant mothers were dying of treatable complications in health centers lacking reliable lighting. Power outages were common. When the lights went out, health workers struggled with candles or kerosene lamps to provide care. Procedures were delayed. Mistakes were made. Women and newborns were needlessly dying. Health workers can’t treat what they can’t see.

Stachel, an obstetrician, saw a solvable problem. Her husband, solar educator Hal Aronson, designed a solar electric system for the hospital and built a demonstration model: a solar electric kit packed into a suitcase. When Laura unpacked the equipment, the hospital asked to keep it.  “This can help us save lives right now,” an operating room technician assured her. 

Stachel left the suitcase and, along with Aronson, created a nonprofit, We Care Solar, with a mission to give every health worker “the power to save lives.” Fifteen years later, that original prototype is still working. More than 11,000 Solar Suitcases have been manufactured and installed, primarily across Africa, serving over 24 million mothers and newborns. Today’s version is a bright yellow carry-on-size suitcase packed with lifesaving surgical-grade lights, rechargeable headlamps, a fetal doppler, and phone charging capabilities for emergency referrals, all powered by a rooftop solar panel. 

Lack of electricity is an often overlooked contributor to the 280,000 women and one million infants who die each year from complications of childbirth. We Care Solar conducts national programs, selecting countries with the highest maternal and infant mortality rates and the least access to reliable electricity. They equip last-mile clinics with reliable lighting and power, coordinating with health ministries and local country managers. We Care Solar has reached every qualifying health facility in Sierra Leone, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Malawi. It has active programs in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Mozambique. The Berkeley nonprofit now supports 2,000 health facilities a year. And demand keeps growing.

Beyond the Delivery Room

A nurse in Tanzania tells the story of a mother who had delivered her baby at home but continued to bleed severely. She came to the facility at 5 am, in the dark, with a “retained placenta.” The Solar Suitcase light allowed the nurse to safely remove the placenta and save the mother’s life. 

The suitcase teaches, too. Through Solar Solutionaries, students in the United States, Kenya, and Uganda assemble replica Solar Suitcase kits, learn STEM skills, and design solar solutions to energy problems in their own neighborhoods, pointing a generation toward clean energy careers.

The goal now is 30 million lives reached by 2030, another 10,000 community health center installations. “It’s almost like we can’t go fast enough,” Sarah Judd, director of development, says. With donor support, they can.