Samuel Miles and Emery Mbavumoja of the Congolese Rural and Peri-urban Electrification Agency install a sensor that monitors power quality and reliability. Photo by Jessica Kersey
In hospitals, reliable power service can mean the difference between life and death. A study of more than 300 health facilities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) found that facilities with sufficient, reliable electricity saw 41% fewer inpatient deaths than those where power regularly failed.
Published September 17 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the findings blend survey data, monthly health system records, and minute-by-minute power-sensor measurements from a subset of facilities. Facilities with sufficient, reliable electricity—defined as having sufficient capacity and more than 22 hours of electricity per day—had mortality rates of 2.6%. Facilities below that reliability threshold had mortality rates between 4.4% and 4.5%.
“Reliable electricity is often treated as a prerequisite for healthcare, but this research shows that it is itself a measurable determinant of health,” said corresponding author Daniel Kammen, a professor emerit in the Energy & Resources Group. “The ability to connect detailed energy data with health system records gives us a much clearer picture of why energy reliability matters—and how investments in energy infrastructure can save lives.”
The publication stems from a collaborative research project led by Kammen, now a faculty member at Johns Hopkins University; Laura Kwong, an assistant professor in the UC Berkeley School of Public Health; and researchers at Duke University and the Research Center for Humanitarian Aid. Co-author Samuel Miles, PhD ’25 Energy & Resources, noted that the study could help inform electrification investments made by development institutions like the World Health Organization and the World Bank.
“Electricity in hospitals cannot be treated like background infrastructure—it is a clinically relevant health system input,” he said.
Read about the study at Johns Hopkins University and learn more in our related Breakthroughs magazine article