Reliable electricity to advance quality health care in low-resource settings
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Series: Energy and Health in Low-Income and Middle-Income Countries, The Lancet Global Health, Volume 14, Issue 4e626-e639April 2026.Open access. Reliable, affordable, sustainable, and equitable electricity access in health-care facilities is fundamental to achieving universal health coverage. Decentralised renewable energy systems coupled with battery storage present a key opportunity to rapidly expand access to reliable electricity, particularly for remote facilities where grid connection is unavailable and as a backup for facilities with unreliable power. In this Series paper, we discuss several measures and policy options for accelerating health-care facility electrification, including strengthening monitoring and standardising indicators for electricity services at health-care facilities, prioritising and increasing equitable investment in energy infrastructure for health-care facilities, strengthening coordination between health, energy, and other sectors, building local capacity to instal, operate, and maintain energy systems at health-care facilities, and developing and disseminating energy-efficient biomedical equipment suitable for harsh conditions.