Health

Health is one of the main priorities. Health facilities are, among key Liberian decision makers, the top priority in terms of electrification. Given this, the electrification target for health centers is of 100% by 2025. Furthermore, there is a clear program in the Rural Master Plan focused in the health sector in order to provide affordable and reliable energy for health clinics and health centers.

Electricity provides access to better health care services. With electricity, health centers are able to have better light and hence provide medical services at night but it also enables health facilities to have vaccine refrigeration and ice pack freezing, better communication, more medical appliances, sterilization of equipment and water supply and treatment. These are indeed basic needs for any health facility and hence reliable electricity can have significant implications for providing health care, especially for reproductive and child health.

Using less biomass contributes to increased public health. More than providing better health care services, electricity also helps to increase public health in other areas. Indeed, as demonstrated above, a great part of the population in Liberia still relying on traditional use of biomass for cooking and the usage of lighting fuel is heavily reliant on kerosene lamps and other polluting alternatives. This use of biomass indoors contributes to household air pollution which emit large proportions of health-harming pollutants in their smoke, further damaging the health of the population. Indeed, in 2013 the percentage of deaths due to household air pollution from solid fuels in Liberia was 7.11% (a rate of 54.23 deaths per 100 000), which is higher than the percentage of total death due to HIV/AIDS (6.59%). Hence, by promoting efficient cook stoves and electricity to several households the health of the population is also improved.