Unplugged and keeping cool

Keeping heat-sensitive vaccines at the right temperature is crucial yet often difficult in areas with limited or no electrical power. Project Optimize collaborated with the Vietnam National Expanded Programme on Immunization to evaluate two technologies to respond to this challenge. One was a direct-drive solar refrigerator and the other a passive cooling device. This fact sheet describes the lessons learned from the demonstration—information which can be used by other country programs considering these devices for long-term storage of vaccines.