Solar-powered fridges are set to play a key role in the fight against deadly diseases around the world by helping vaccinate up to 75 million children.
One such firm is Wales-headquartered Dulas, which works with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to support immunisation programmes worldwide.
Inventor Guy Watson helped found renewable energy specialists Dulas in 1982. He then pioneered advanced refrigeration technology that keeps temperature-sensitive vaccines and medicines safely chilled in parts of the world where extreme heat and power supplies are an issue.
Solar powered fridges may be needed in administering a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as one is available, he said.
Watson, 63, recently stepped down from the company after an 35-year career with Dulas.
He said: “It’s important to realise that other killer diseases haven’t just vanished and the UK government commitment to Gavi will be a crucial part of the coronavirus response by relieving pressure on the healthcare systems in poorer countries.”
Watson added: “Technology designed and developed in Wales has been preserving immunisation medication for over 35 years and could be at the forefront of the fightback against COVID-19.”
Health experts have warned that if coronavirus is left to spread in developing countries, this could lead to the virus re-emerging in the UK later in the year, putting further pressure on its NHS.
Watson hit on the idea for solar-powered fridges while carrying out humanitarian work in Ethiopia in 1984, after seeing doctors struggling to save wounded soldiers.
He explained: “At the time of Band Aid, I’d taken a sabbatical to go off to do work in Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia.
“I ended up working in the primary healthcare sector just helping to fix stuff and it soon became clear that there was a desperate need for solar powered fridges.
“It got me thinking, and by the time I’d left I’d actually got the designs for a solar-powered blood bank together.”
Dulas is now one of only six solar-powered fridge manufacturers in the world – exporting to 30 countries.
From 2015 to 2017 the company installed almost 2000 specialist fridges in countries ranging from Myanmar to Sierra Leone.
Most recently, it developed the Vaccine Guard monitoring system that automatically monitors the vaccine temperature and sends an alert to technicians in case of deviation from the required levels.
International Development Minister Wendy Morton said: “The coronavirus pandemic shows us now more than ever the vital role vaccines play in protecting us all.
“I am proud a firm in Wales is at the forefront of solar-powered fridge technology and this British expertise is helping Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in its mission to vaccinate millions of children against deadly diseases like polio, measles and typhoid in developing countries.
“The Global Vaccine Summit on June 4 is an opportunity for other countries to follow the UK Government’s lead and work together to stop the spread of infectious diseases, keeping us all safe.”