MSF Innovation Newsletter September 2021 – Renewable Energy and Planetary Health
Renewable Energy in Humanitarian Operations: Safeguarding Human and Planetary Health
Anthropogenic climate change from greenhouse gas emissions is one critical component of what we need to understand to safeguard human and planetary health. One area where technological innovations can help reduce MSF's CO2 emissions and simultaneously improve the quality of our services is energy.
Over the years, the Sweden Innovation Unit (SIU) has worked with the different MSF Operational Centers to manage a variety of projects with a strong energy and sustainability profile. One example is the extension of the OCB Energy Vision in 2018, which aimed to provide a more holistic approach to energy across the movement. More recently, SIU, MSF Operational Center Paris, and energy referents from across the movement collaborated with Arup to develop the Solar Air Conditioning (AC) Sizing Tool in the context of the Solar AC Project. The tool – spotlighted in the Innovation Updates section in this newsletter – aims to promote the uptake of solar ACs in MSF projects and beyond.
Zooming out, the Content Recommendations sections below highlight a webinar by MSF United Arab Emirates and the Dubai International Humanitarian Conference & Exhibition (DIHAD) that looks at the role of renewable energy in humanitarian operations. The webinar is the first in a series of monthly innovation-focused webinars that will run throughout this year.
Another resource on the topic of renewable energy is this recent article on the SIU website, which explores the role of energy transition in MSF's broader planetary health developments. The also article debunks three myths about renewable energy. (Spoiler alert: clean energy sources are neither more expensive nor less efficient than their environmentally harmful counterparts.)
Staying with the topic of misinformation: this edition features the COVID Challenge App, which uses gamification as a tactic for health promotion and to combat misinformation and rumours about the novel coronavirus.
We hope you enjoy the read!
Innovation updates from the MSF movement
COVID Challenge App: Gamification to combat misinformation
Overview: The COVID Challenge app is an interactive quiz app developed by MSF Operational Center Geneva (OCG) in collaboration with Pixel Impact. The first version of the app was launched in September 2020 to counteract misinformation around COVID-19 and teach users how to protect themselves from the disease. Users are presented with questions related to the novel coronavirus and response alternatives accompanied by colourful illustrations.
The app's concept came from the Champions against Ebola app, a quiz challenge game developed by MSF in 2019 during the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Next Steps: Staying close to the users and responding to a very real need to debunk harmful myths, a series of questions about COVID-19 vaccinations was recently added to the COVID Challenge app. The app has also just been translated into Ukrainian to make it accessible to more people. It is now available in five languages (English, Spanish, French, Arabic, and Ukrainian.) The team behind the app is currently exploring potential ways to add more advanced adaptive learning capabilities to the app to tailor the user experience to individual users' needs.
Solar Air Conditioning Sizing Tool: Boosting the uptake of solar-powered ACs
Overview: Today, air conditioning (AC) systems are one of the main sources of fuel consumption and, subsequently, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions within MSF. Energy referents in the MSF Energy Working Group have conservatively estimated that 35 per cent of all CO2 emissions at MSF field level is related to diesel generator powered ACs. In the context of the Solar AC Project, the Sweden Innovation Unit, MSF Operational Center Paris (OCP), and energy referents from across the movement teamed up with Arup in autumn 2020 to develop the Solar AC Sizing Tool. The tool provides a high-level feasibility assessment for installing any type of AC system and aims to promote the uptake of solar ACs at field level and reduce our CO2 emission.
Next Steps: MSF logisticians are currently beta testing the Solar AC Sizing Tool, which will be released to the public in early October this year. The tool was recently shortlisted for the New Civil Engineer Tech award in the Best Use of Technology for Carbon Reduction category. Data collected during the initial trial period will be used to further develop the tool and detect and solve potential bugs to improve the user experience before the final submission for the New Civil Engineer Tech award on December 2, 2021.
If you have any questions about the tool or want to get involved in testing it, please email marpe.tanaka@stockholm.msf.org.
For more information about the tool, check out this recent article on the SIU website.
Resource Highlight
Wednesday Webinar: Renewable Energy in Humanitarian Operations
MSF United Arab Emirates will organize a series of monthly innovation-focused webinars throughout 2021, hosted by the Dubai International Humanitarian Conference & Exhibition (DIHAD). The first webinar in the series focused on renewable energy in humanitarian operations, spotlighting MSF’s solar installations in the Kigulube Reference Hospital and Kusisa Hospital in South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The webinar was moderated by Sylvain Groulx, Head of Operations Cell, featuring Augustí López, Energy Technical Referent, both of MSF.
The webinar was recorded and is available here. By watching the webinar you will get:
A review of why and how MSF transported solar panels from Europe to a remote part of the DRC,
An overview of the operation and maintenance associated with the solar power systems installed at MSF’s two hospitals in the DRC, and
A glimpse into the costs and paybacks associated with installing solar panels in humanitarian projects and programmes. (In the case of the solar-powered hospitals in the DRC, the costly instalment process is expected to be recouped in just two to three years – after that, the annual cost of running the system is estimated to be 95 per cent lower than it would be with generators.)
Further reading recommendations:
PreventionWeb has put together a list of innovative solutions (technical and non-technical) by communities around the globe to deal with the climate threat.
”The Living Planet Report 2020” by WWF outlines how humanity’s increasing destruction of nature has catastrophic impacts on wildlife populations and human health.
“The Climate Crisis is a Child Rights Crisis” report by UNICEF introduces the Children’s Climate Risk Index (CCRI) and provides the first comprehensive view of children’s exposure and vulnerability to the impacts of climate change through the CCRI.
Another report looking at how climate change affects children is “Born into the Climate Crisis: Why we must act now to secure children’s rights” by Save the Children, focusing on children’s rights. The report is available in two versions, one full version and one shorter version with simpler language, developed for children and youths.
The MSF internal Planetary Health Kompas site recently stepped into a new look. Further resources supporting planetary health activities on field level have been added along with more detailed information about ongoing MSF projects and programs supporting climate mitigation and adoption.
What We're Listening To
UCL Minds
Mental Health and Climate Change
In the run up to COP26, Dr Harry Kennard discusses the co-benefits of climate mitigation actions for health with academics and scientists from the University College London (UCL) and beyond. In this episode, Dr Kennard speaks to Dr Gesche Huebner, Lecturer in Sustainable and Healthy Built Environments at UCL, about the relationship between climate change and mental health. Listen here »
Engenius
Humanitarian Maps
Engenius is hosted by Engineers without Borders Bristol. In this episode, co-hosts Seren and Gabriel speak with Antoni Ros Martinez, Program Manager of Disaster Services at Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, which supports global humanitarian action and community development through open map data. Listen here »
Until Next Time 👋
As always we would love to hear of any global health innovation insights or thoughts. Anything you would like to feature in the next newsletter? Reach out with any questions or comments on comms.siu@stockholm.msf.org – we would be delighted to continue the conversation!
Best wishes,
The MSF Sweden Innovation Unit Team & MSF Innovation Movement