Cooling for health services

The report highlights the critical link between sustainable cooling and the achievement of SDG3 (good health and well-being), emphasizing that vaccine efficacy and patient care depend on reliable cold chains and temperature-controlled environments. It identifies significant gaps in cold chain equipment and electricity access in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and Gavi-eligible nations. The document advocates for a combination of passive design, nature-based solutions, and energy-efficient appliances, such as super-efficient refrigerators and solar direct drive technology, to ensure health service resilience in a warming world.

• Sustainable cooling is essential for SDG3, as vaccines typically require storage between 2°C and 8°C, while ultra-cold chain (UCC) storage for some COVID-19 vaccines requires temperatures between -20°C and -70°C.
• There are severe gaps in cold chain infrastructure in Gavi-eligible countries; a 2014 survey of 57 such countries found that up to 90% of health facilities lacked reliable cold chain equipment, and 20% had no equipment at all.
• The RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine, which must be stored between 2°C and 8°C, is a critical tool for Sub-Saharan Africa, where malaria kills 260,000 children annually.
• Electricity access is a primary barrier to health service cooling, with nearly 59% of over 121,000 health care facilities in 46 low- and middle-income countries lacking reliable electricity as of 2018.
• Energy-efficient technology can significantly reduce power requirements; super-efficient refrigerators use only 10% of the power capacity required by conventional vaccine refrigerators.
• In Bangladesh, UNICEF delivered over 350 UCC freezers to more than 45 countries, including 26 large freezers to Bangladesh, increasing its capacity by nearly 9 million vaccines.
• Passive and nature-based solutions can reduce the need for mechanical cooling, as seen in the Friendship Hospital Shyamnagar in Bangladesh, which uses cross-ventilation and shading, and Changi General Hospital in Singapore, which uses a roof garden to save USD 800,000 in annual energy and water costs.

APA

Sustainable Energy for All (2022). Cooling for health services. https://www.seforall.org/chilling-prospects-2022/health-services

Chicago

Sustainable Energy for All. Cooling for health services. 2022. https://www.seforall.org/chilling-prospects-2022/health-services.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Sustainable Energy for All |title=Cooling for health services |date=2022 |url=https://www.seforall.org/chilling-prospects-2022/health-services |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sustainableenergyforall2022cooling, author = {{Sustainable Energy for All}}, title = {{Cooling for health services}}, institution = {Sustainable Energy for All}, year = {2022}, url = {https://www.seforall.org/chilling-prospects-2022/health-services}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }