Kenya has taken a major step towards strengthening healthcare delivery and advancing its green growth agenda through a new collaboration with UNICEF that will see thousands of health facilities powered by solar energy.
The Health Facility Solar Electrification (HFSE) initiative aims to solarise 2,000 health facilities in its first phase, with the potential to scale up to 4,000. The programme will prioritise primary healthcare centres and immunisation service delivery points, ensuring that even the most remote communities benefit from reliable, sustainable power.
By addressing energy gaps, the initiative will make it possible for health facilities to provide round-the-clock services. This means mothers will be able to deliver safely at any time of day, vaccines can be stored without fear of spoilage due to power outages, and essential reproductive and emergency services will always remain available.
The programme is designed as a climate-smart solution that directly contributes to Kenya’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA). It is expected to create green jobs, strengthen immunisation cold chains, reduce dependence on costly and polluting diesel generators, and boost staff morale by providing consistent working conditions. Additionally, it will significantly cut carbon emissions, aligning healthcare delivery with the country’s sustainability and clean energy goals.
Beyond infrastructure, the solarisation project supports Kenya’s Universal Health Coverage (UHC) agenda by reducing operational costs for health facilities, enabling them to redirect savings towards improved service delivery. It also complements the Taifa Care model, which emphasises accessible, affordable, and quality healthcare for all citizens.
This collaboration highlights the growing recognition that climate action and healthcare are interconnected. By integrating renewable energy into health systems, Kenya is building resilience against both climate change and public health challenges, ensuring that no community is left behind.
The partnership with UNICEF builds on a long-standing relationship that has strengthened Kenya’s immunisation and vaccine programmes. With this new focus on clean energy, the cooperation now expands into a transformative model that combines health equity with environmental stewardship.
As Kenya moves to scale up the HFSE initiative nationwide, the solarisation of health facilities will stand as a model of how smart investments in renewable energy can simultaneously deliver better healthcare, empower local communities, and protect the planet.
