Mosaic News

Buy Me A Coffee
News without borders
Friday, 28 August 2026
Mosaic News is free to read — but not free to run. Your (monthly) donation keeps it going. →
Sub-Saharan Africa·Health·Technology

Solar-powered kiosks bring remote medical consultations to rural Chad

Sunday, 23 August 2026, 06:13 · 1 min read

A Chadian startup called Telemedan has deployed 37 solar-powered telemedicine kiosks across 11 provinces of Chad (a landlocked country in north-central Africa with severely limited healthcare infrastructure), enabling an estimated 143,000 people to consult doctors remotely for as little as $2–$15 — compared with journeys that can cost over $200 in transport and accommodation. Founded in 2021 by Abakar Mahamat, each kiosk runs on solar panels and batteries, allowing local operators to conduct basic examinations using equipment such as blood-pressure monitors and ECG machines while a doctor joins via screen, with patient data stored locally and synced when connectivity allows. The initiative, backed by Chad's Ministry of Public Health, highlights a model increasingly relevant across sub-Saharan Africa, where both electricity shortages and vast distances remain the primary barriers to basic medical care.

Sources
Al Jazeera EnglishIn rural Chad, solar kiosks bring healthcare closer ↗︎
This article was automatically compiled by AI from the sources above. It may contain inaccuracies. Always read the original sources for the full context.