Over 1 billion people in the world live without access to electricity, the largest number of those being in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.i A stable source of electricity for both home and facility births is essential to maternal and newborn health and safety, which is often compromised when lighting for midwifery tasks is inadequate. Rechargeable lighting affords medical personnel the ability to improve quality of care as well as detect and respond to emergencies during births.ii
Lighting needed for health care differs from the type of lighting used for standard household tasks, and at this time no study has been done to evaluate rechargeable lighting technology specifically in regard to maternal health requirements. However, recent research indicates that there are 14 specific requirements for an off-grid, portable lighting product for maternal health applications.ii These 14 important characteristics are outlined in the following summary of rechargeable lighting technologies. These characteristics include, but are not limited to, the light’s ability to provide security during the travel of the birth attendant at night, allowing freedom of both hands, minimization of shadows during medical procedures, and the ability to be easily cleaned and disinfected. Further, the light’s spectral properties are important for medical applications as it is essential that these lights provide high-quality, bright, and comfortable light that allows for true color illumination of wounds and other tissue.iii The correlated color temperature, expressed in degrees Kelvin, that has been identified as the most appropriate for surgical and wound care applications is 5,000 – 6,000K, which is considered to be white light.ivHowever, there are many medical task lights available that are 4,000 – 5,000K and can provide sufficient lighting for non-surgical tasks.
While there are many rechargeable lighting products on the market, the quality and performance of rechargeable lighting products varies widely. The rapid introduction of new rechargeable technologies on the market has resulted in substandard performance, resulting in negative consumer perception of rechargeable lighting sources and a lowered demand for these products. Factors impacting consumer perception include durability, cost, run time, and light performance. In response to these issues, several organizations, such as Lighting Africa, have emerged in an effort to regulate the industry and improve the quality of off-grid lighting products.v T
The products in this guide represent a selection of commercialized rechargeable lighting options that can aid health workers in providing safer and better care for their patients.