This post originally appeared in Dispatches from South Africa

Definitely over my life time I’ve seen a global increase in the number of catastrophes--both man-made and natural. Earthquakes, tsunamis, famines, floods, wars, epidemic diseases, terrorist attacks . . .the list goes on. In fact, never have I felt more unsafe. I’m sometimes overwhelmed or feel hopeless. Working in government, you sometimes question how much high-level policy can do.

Every now and then someone on the ground, in the midst of the crises we face, forgets how hopeless the situation seems, overcomes powerlessness, and comes up with a simple, innovative solution that doesn’t save the world, but saves a few people, people with names. From there, it grows. That’s what Dr. Laura Stachel did.

Dr. Stachel, an obstetrician-gynecologist, traveled to northern Nigeria in 2007 with a team to investigate emergency obstetric care, and she was overwhelmed by what she saw. She saw the lights go out during an emergency cesarean surgeries, women bleed to death with no blood bank or a phone to call a surgeon, women routinely turned away and babies die due to a lack of light and no ability to perform resuscitation without power.

But she actually did something about it. She gathered the requisite technical knowledge, formed an interdisciplinary team, and launched a non-profit that created a suitcase-sized, portable, solar-powered electric system that can be used in places where there is no lighting and power to do surgeries safely or call surgeons or power a blood bank for a woman in labor.

The non-profit is called WE CARE - Women’s Emergency Communication and Reliable Electricity. And in the first 6 months they showed results, saving lives in a few countries. Since that time they have deployed solar suitcases in 9 countries including disaster relief in Haiti. WE CARE was honored as a 2010 Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC) winner and an Ashoka Changemakers finalist. Both GSVC and Changemakers are programs that incubate or award promising social enterprises. WE CARE plans to produce a 2nd-generation solar suitcase, build local capacity in countries for manufacture and distribution, and continue to improve maternal care by powering ultra sound machines, fetal monitors, computers, and videos.

The wonderful benefit of this social innovation is that though it came about to solve a problem in Nigeria, it can be used around the world, and it can be used to power any medical equipment needed at night for any surgery or procedure.

We Care Solar: Saving Mothers & Infants with Solar Powered Lights and Communication from Jose Vergelin on Vimeo.

This post originally appreared in Cultural Musing of the Known World.

It is a miracle I find myself-as a woman, sitting in a safe home in a middle-class neighborhood, where it is almost effortless to find medical treatment to prevent and treat debilitating conditions.   The expansion of knowledge regarding the promotion of Maternal and Child health care has become more than a simple passion of mine, it is become one of my biggest life goals- to help reduce the number of women who suffer from preventative conditions.  Mothers and Children are one of the most important facets of a society as they both are required to continue the legacy of a great society.  This legacy is being jeopardized.  

 According to the United Nations (2008) of the two hundred million women who would like to delay or avoid childbearing, nineteen million unsafe abortions are performed, which results in sixty-eight thousand deaths.  This is one example of how severe maternal mortality can be; however, the leading causes of death of women in low-income countries are HIV/AIDS, and Maternal conditions.  These are both circumstances that can be treated and even prevented depending on the situation.  

 What must occur in order to mediate deadly consequences is to implement programs that promote safe sexual practices as well as family planning.  These programs would need to carefully overcome the cultural stigmatization that is often associated with contraception.  Being able to choose whether or not one wants to expose one’s self to potential diseases or even prevent conception, ought to be a human right, and in certain areas this is not the case.   It is because of this forced acquiescence, that girls become mothers when they do not posses the economic stability to enjoy simple resources such as pre-natal vitamins, food, and clean water.  This is why the promotion of Maternal and Child health must be addressed; otherwise this complacency will only breed a new generation, who suffer from old consequences.