WHO and UNICEF have just released a new joint publication on solar fridges and freezers that is intended to provide managers in national immunization programmes with guidance on how to implement successful solar-powered vaccine refrigerator and freezer systems. It takes into account new developments in refrigerator technology like solar direct-drive (SDD) refrigerators and water-pack freezers, as well as containers with passive cooling, and is based on lessons learned during the 30 years since solar refrigerator systems were first used in immunization programmes. The document is available in English on the WHO website:
http://www.who.int/immunization/documents/9789241509862
A French version will be published soon.
I would be very interested to hear the thoughts of other TechNet members on this document; please reply to this post with your comments, questions and any other feedback. Is the guidance accurate and appropriate? Is anything missing? Do you know of other resources that might also be useful to those planning to implement solar vaccine refrigerator and freezer systems?
To read "reviews" of particular PQS-prequalified solar equipment, as submitted by TechNet members, please visit the the Reviews area of the TechNet website:
http://www.technet-21.org/en/reviews
For example, to read reviews of SDD refrigerators:
You can also share your own "real-world" experiences of equipment by clicking "Add new review" for a particular device (you will need to be signed in).Sharing such practical knowledge of these systems with others may, I suspect, be of equal or even greater usefulness than the guidance document itself.
I have attached a PDF of "Figure 5. Selecting the most appropriate energy source for vaccine refrigeration" as members also might find this of particular interest/use. This decision tree is an updated version of the one included in Section E003.5 of the WHO PQS Devices Catalogue.