Solar-powered fridges from a Mid Wales firm are playing a role in the global fight against coronavirus by helping to protect up to 75 million children against other deadly diseases.
Dulas, based in Machynlleth, is working with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to support immunisation programmes worldwide.
The 海角视频 Government has funding equivalent to £330m per annum for Gavi over the next five years to vaccinate children against killer diseases like measles, polio and typhoid - easing the strain on the world’s poorest countries health systems as they battle coronavirus.
Inventor Guy Watson helped found renewable energy specialists Dulas in 1982. He then pioneered advanced refrigeration technology that keeps temperature sensitive vaccines and medicines safely chilled in parts of the world where extreme heat and power supplies are an issue.
Solar powered fridges may be needed in administering a Covid-19 vaccine as soon as one is available.
Engineer Mr Watson, 63, who recently stepped down from the company, said: “It’s important to realise that other killer diseases haven’t just vanished and the 海角视频 Government commitment to Gavi will be a crucial part of the coronavirus response by relieving pressure on the healthcare systems in poorer countries.
“Technology designed and developed in Wales has been preserving immunisation medication for over 35 years and could be at the forefront of the fightback against Covid-19.”
The 海角视频’s funding pledge comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson prepares to host a virtual Global Vaccine Summit of world leaders on June 4.
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Gavi is a Vaccine Alliance of over 25 countries and has helped save over 13 million lives by immunising 760 million children since its formation in 2000.
Health experts have warned that if coronavirus is left to spread in developing countries, this could lead to the virus re-emerging in the 海角视频 later in the year, putting further pressure on our NHS.
Mr Watson hit on the idea for solar-powered fridges while carrying out humanitarian work in Ethiopia in 1984, after seeing doctors struggling to save wounded soldiers.
He said: “At the time of Band Aid, I’d taken a sabbatical to go off to do work in Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia.
“I ended up working in the primary healthcare sector just helping to fix stuff and it soon became clear that there was a desperate need for solar powered fridges.
“In Eritrea and Tigray it was a war zone. I was working close to the front in trench hospitals. A lot of blood was needed at the operating theatre, and it shocked me to see that there was no storage.
“So, if a somebody was needing blood, then they basically had a quick look around the soldiers that were nearby, to see if there was anybody with the same blood group, and they’d literally be connected directly to the wounded person on the operating table.
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“It got me thinking, and by the time I’d left I’d actually got the designs for a solar-powered blood bank together.”
He added:“A Swiss doctor, Tony Locher, chairman of the charity, the Swiss Support Committee for Eritrea, was inspired by my innovation and said he’d fund a couple of prototypes to help get them in the field for trials.
“When I came back to Wales with this idea, it was easy to get my colleagues fired with enthusiasm and I guess we had the first fridge built within a month or so.
“We piloted half a dozen in Eritrea with help from my friend Mnat Berhane, who was sadly killed in a helicopter crash during the war. I’ve never forgotten the sacrifices he made to make the pilot a success and within five years the fridges we created went on to be the highest selling in the world, into an empty market.”
Dulas is now one of only half a dozen solar-powered fridge manufacturers in the world – exporting to 30 countries. The company employs 47 staff, including 10 in Scotland at offices in Stirling and Inverness.
From 2015-2017 the company installed almost 2000 specialist fridges in countries ranging from Myanmar to Sierra Leone.
Most recently it has developed the Vaccine Guard monitoring system that automatically monitors the vaccine temperature and sends an alert to technicians in case of deviation from the required levels.
The Dulas team travels all over the world and their work has included helping tackle the West Africa Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone.
Mr Watson said: It’s still so satisfying to turn up in a place that has nothing, no electricity, not a light bulb, and to leave there with a fridge holding vaccines and other vital medical supplies.
“I couldn’t even hazard a guess at the volume of vaccines that’s gone through the fridges we produced, but it’s absolutely colossal and that’s a lot of lives that have been saved.
“Even just one small fridge can cover a population of 25,000 and probably 10,000 of that population are the mothers of children that need to be vaccinated.
“In the 35 odd years since they first emerged, solar vaccine fridges have provided vaccines to millions of people. It’s very satisfying to think that our ingenuity in the early days may have directly saved the lives of thousands of people. And hopefully, when the scientists make a breakthrough with coronavirus, technology like this can be on hand to save even more.”
Director of Dulas, Ruth Chapman added: “Without equipment helping to keep medication at the optimum temperature, expensive and much-needed vaccines often become ineffective and go to waste. The 海角视频 commitment to Gavi ensures that vital vaccines continue to reach those that need them, even in the most arduous locations. We are proud to be flying the flag for Wales.”
International Development Minister Wendy Morton said: “The coronavirus pandemic shows us now more than ever the vital role vaccines play in protecting us all.
“I am proud a firm in Wales is at the forefront of solar-powered fridge technology and this British expertise is helping Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in its mission to vaccinate millions of children against deadly diseases like polio, measles and typhoid in developing countries.
“The Global Vaccine Summit on June 4 is an opportunity for other countries to follow the 海角视频 Government’s lead and work together to stop the spread of infectious diseases, keeping us all safe.”