Training health facility workers in Haiti
JACMEL, HAITI - USAID conducted a training course focused on improving energy services to support laboratory infrastructure at local health facilities.
The two week training course held in May 2008 was sponsored by the USG PEPFAR program and the Haiti National Reference Laboratory. The training was targeted at health facility managers and laboratory specialists and theagenda covered options for providing health facilities with continuous and high quality power needed for effective operation.
The first week of training covered key concepts and design issues while the second week focused on hands-on application of the material as the class retrofitted a health facility. The training coursemanual covered the design, installation, and operation of back-up power systems (inverters, batteries, generators, power conditioners and solar). Several trainees and private sector energy service providers made presentations throughout the training course.
During the second week of training, students designed and installed an energy system for a nearby health facility. The students designed a system which provided continuous, high quality power to laboratory equipment and other critical loads even though the hospital only received about two hours of grid power per day. Students trained the health facility manager on the operation and basic maintenance of the system and a contract was signed with a local service provider to maintain the energy systems.
For more information, contact USAID's Energy Team.