Ensuring Reliable Healthcare in Rural and Remote Areas: The Role of Decentralized Solar Energy in Maternal and Child Health – A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Impact of Decentralised Renewable Energy on Maternal and Child health outcomes

Abstract

Background: An unreliable energy supply in rural and remote healthcare facilities leads to poor quality of health-services affecting health-outcomes. Energy supplied to healthcare facilities has a significant impact especially on maternal-child-health and emergency care. The present study aims to explore the impact of integrating solar energy in rural and remote healthcare facilities on maternal and child health outcomes along with emergency care. This study also explores the applicability of Harmonised Health Facility Assessment (HHFA) framework on healthcare outcomes in LMICs.

Methods: The steps in this process were conducted according to the PRISMA (Preferred-Reporting-Items-for-Systematic-reviews-and-Meta-Analysis) guidelines. The PubMed, Science-Direct, the Cochrane library, and secondary reference were searched and the grey literature was also retrieved through research and policy-reports. A total of 144 studies were identified, of which 131 were excluded being not in scope of present study. Further, 4 studies were extracted using grey literature, and finally, a total of 17 studies including 5 studies for meta-analysis were considered as per inclusion criteria across LMIC’s.

Results: Meta-analysis comparing the conventional sources of energy to solar powered oxygen supply for child healthcare indicates the presence of substantial heterogeneity and variation in risk difference estimates across the studies (N=33224; RD=0.03; 95%CI 0.01, 0.05; p<0.001) depicted through forest and funnel plots. The Meta-regression analysis indicates a positive impact of duration on the effect size indicating the factors responsible for heterogeneity (regression-coefficient r=0.612; 95%CI 0.27, 0.93;  p<0.005) emphasizing on the need for solar-powered-oxygen supply over the conventional sources. Eager’s Regression indicates no publication bias (p=0.79). 

Conclusion: The study underscores the transformative impact of integrating solar-energy in rural and remote healthcare facilities, findings advocate adoption of climate-resilient technologies - decentralised solar energy solutions as a policy imperative to ensure equitable healthcare services.