POST 01265E: A SEAT AT THE TABLE: HEALTH SECTOR NEEDS AND NATIONAL ENERGY POLICY

POST 01265E: A SEAT AT THE TABLE: HEALTH SECTOR NEEDS AND NATIONAL ENERGY POLICY 14 MAY 2008 ******************************************* Rowan Wagner brings to the table an issue that has been less frequently discussed− efficient delivery of immunization services and its reliance on energy security strategies. Does any country have a national energy strategy that takes into consideration the requirements of the health sector? ----------- When looking at improving immunization systems especially cold chain and supply chain management, there is a tendency to look at the technical and to some extent the human resource parts of the system especially in terms of policy. And often policy development is limited to within the health sector within a national strategy; though HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases have pushed policy to be more inter-sector oriented such as health and national security. But what I have not yet seen is the input of the health sector in many national energy security strategies. Which is odd, as to make immunization and other essential primary health services more efficient you need a defined amount of energy (normally in the form of electricity) to support refrigeration of the vaccines, to operate the diagnostic equipment and run the communication/data sharing equipment (computers, internet phones, etc…) I think that in the case of development, there is a need for the health sector requirements to be put into the policy consideration of energy security policy especially when it comes to improvement of access in communities and adaptation of new technology. Is anyone aware or has an example where a national energy strategy has defined policy that included the needs of the health sector - in particular vaccine supply systems? Rowan Wagner ([email=%[email protected]%5d]%[email protected]%5d[/email]) Post generated using Mail2Forum (http://www.mail2forum.com)