Kenyan engineer wins top prize for vaccine fridge

Norah Magero has told the BBC of her excitement at becoming the first Kenyan to be awarded the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation.

Her winning invention is a small, portable, solar-powered fridge, named Vaccibox, that safely stores and transports vaccines so they can be used in field vaccinations and at remote clinics.

Ms Magero was inspired when she worked with farmers in remote locations who needed cold storage but didn’t have a reliable electricity supply.

Then when Covid struck she thought she could adapt her invention for use with vaccines.

“It’s a signifier that we’re on the edge of something really, really great,” she told BBC Focus on Africa radio.

By BBC