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Power quality and reliability database of Malawi’s healthcare facilities
In 2023, the World Health Organization reported that 1 billion people still receive healthcare in a facility that does not have access to reliable electricity. These facilities offer fewer health services and services of lower quality than those with reliable access. In Malawi, insufficient electricity access leads to poor lighting during deliveries and difficulty treating mothers and babies if there are complications during or after birth, for example. Effective provision of modern healthcare requires reliable access to electricity. Without it, consequences for patients and providers are disruptive at best and deadly at worst. While it is known that healthcare facilities deal with unpredictable brownouts and blackouts in Malawi, there is little quantitative information available about power quality and reliability. The purpose of this thesis is to collect this essential data so that health facilities, government bodies, and NGOs have more information to make energy planning decisions and discrepancies in power quality and reliability between health facilities and communities can be identified and addressed.
See Reuland, et al. (2020). Energy access in Malawian healthcare facilities: Consequences for health service delivery and environmental health conditions. Health Policy and Planning, 35(2), pp.142-152.
Keywords: healthcare facilities, electricity access, power quality and reliability, healthcare services
The project is supported by funding by Prof. Tilley. This thesis would involve 3-4 months of fieldwork in Malawi.
The project is supported by funding by Prof. Tilley. This thesis would involve 3-4 months of fieldwork in Malawi.
Over the course of the project, the student will be responsible for:
- Visiting electrified health facilities (of varying sizes) throughout southern Malawi and documenting their primary (and secondary, if appropriate) energy sources and whether they have an established plan to reduce their loads if not all demand can be met.
- Installing nLine sensors to track power quality and reliability and ensuring their functionality throughout the duration of their installation.
- Conducting an analysis of the data to determine if there are any predictable patterns of brownouts or blackouts, how long they last, how often they occur, where they occur.
- Publishing the data in an open source format following the protocols put forth by the GHE team.
Over the course of the project, the student will be responsible for: - Visiting electrified health facilities (of varying sizes) throughout southern Malawi and documenting their primary (and secondary, if appropriate) energy sources and whether they have an established plan to reduce their loads if not all demand can be met. - Installing nLine sensors to track power quality and reliability and ensuring their functionality throughout the duration of their installation. - Conducting an analysis of the data to determine if there are any predictable patterns of brownouts or blackouts, how long they last, how often they occur, where they occur. - Publishing the data in an open source format following the protocols put forth by the GHE team.
Interested and qualified students are invited to apply. To do so, please contact Dr. Jakub Tkaczuk (jtkaczuk@ethz.ch).
Interested and qualified students are invited to apply. To do so, please contact Dr. Jakub Tkaczuk (jtkaczuk@ethz.ch).
ETH for Development (ETH4D) aims to develop innovations that are directly relevant to improving the livelihoods of people in low-resource settings and to educate future leaders in sustainable development.
2024_Msc_projectcall_Malawi_powerqualityandreliability.pdf
