Nairobi, July 9 -- The birth of my first child in 2018 revealed how unreliable electricity can undermine healthcare in rural Kenya. Frequent power outages disrupted vaccine storage, forcing families to travel long distances only to discover vaccines were unavailable. While I could sometimes find alternatives, many mothers could not afford the extra transport costs or time away from caregiving.

My experience as a technical manager in a rural hospital had already exposed me to the challenges healthcare workers face in preserving vaccines and other temperature-sensitive medicines during blackouts. Many clinics lack refrigeration, requiring health workers to transport vaccines over long distances, often in extreme heat that threatens their e...