Usungu Health Centre in Makueni County is totally off grid. They did not have a cold storage facility prior to the pilot and had to transport vaccines from the nearest level-4 facility twice a week during the Maternal & Child Health (MCH) Clinic days. After the day’s vaccination or when the ice packs began to thaw, remaining vaccines would be transported back to the level-4 facility, 25 kilometres away. With the VacciBox fridge, they can now stock over 1000 vaccine doses and immunizations have increased by 45%. The Nurse in charge at Usungu expressed that VacciBox has saved him a lot of time, money spent on fuel for his motorbike and mental strain in transporting the vaccines to and fro to avoid vaccine spoilage.
Merrueshi Health Centre in Kajiado is connected to a weak/unreliable grid and uses a soda fridge to keep vaccines cold. Being based in a maasai conservancy, they serve a vast and sparsely populated community. Women traverse upto 30 kilometres to attend the MCH clinic which occurs once a week. As a result many women prefer not to take their children to the clinic for immunisation resulting in missed opportunities. With VacciBox, the health workers conduct field vaccinations to reach those children who would otherwise have not received their vaccines. As a result, vaccinations have increased from 150 to 500 per month. The Nurse in charge particularly likes VacciBox because it is light and can be easily moved from one homestead to another using its wheels and comfortable handles.