Innovative Machynlleth company Dulas manufactures solar powered fridges which could help with vaccine in fight against coronavirus

Dulas Ltd – headquartered in Machynlleth – works with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to support immunisation programmes worldwide.

The UK Government has just announced funding equivalent to £330 million-a-year for Gavi over the next five years to vaccinate children against killer diseases like measles, polio and typhoid – easing the strain on poorer countries' health systems as they battle coronavirus.

And fridges made by Dulas – which keep vaccines at the right temperature in parts of the world where heat and power supplies may be an issue – could could help with that fight.

Inventor Guy Watson, 63, who recently stepped down from the company he launched in 1982, 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.”

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.

Engineer Guy hit on the idea for solar-powered fridges while carrying out humanitarian work in Ethiopia in 1984.

He said: “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.

“In Eritrea and Tigray it was a war zone. I was working close to the front in trench hospitals. A lot of blood was needed at the operating theatre, and it shocked me to see that there was no storage.

“So, if a somebody was needing blood, then they basically had a quick look around the soldiers that were nearby, to see if there was anybody with the same blood group, and they’d literally be connected directly to the wounded person on the operating table.

“It got me thinking, and by the time I’d left I’d actually got the designs for a solar-powered blood bank together.”

Guy added: “A Swiss doctor, Tony Locher, chairman of the charity, the Swiss Support Committee for Eritrea, was inspired by my innovation and said he’d fund a couple of prototypes to help get them in the field for trials.

“When I came back to Wales with this idea, it was easy to get my colleagues fired with enthusiasm and I guess we had the first fridge built within a month or so.

“We piloted half a dozen in Eritrea with help from my friend Mnat Berhane, who was sadly killed in a helicopter crash during the war. I’ve never forgotten the sacrifices he made to make the pilot a success and within five years the fridges we created went on to be the highest selling in the world, into an empty market.”

Dulas is now one of only half a dozen solar-powered fridge manufacturers in the world – exporting to 30 countries. The company employs 47 staff.

From 2015 to 2017 the company installed almost 2,000 specialist fridges in countries ranging from Myanmar to Sierra Leone.

Most recently they 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.

Guy – currently volunteering as a Blood Bikes Wales rider to support the NHS – added: “We had a few hair-raising moments on our travels. The West Africa Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone was scary for all of us, but probably driving in vehicles is actually when your life is most at risk. The driving is not quite up to the standard you’d expect and there have been some exciting moments in military-controlled areas.

“If you are in a warzone there are planes overhead and guns going off that can get the heart pumping.

“It’s still so satisfying to turn up in a place that has nothing, no electricity, not a light bulb, and to leave there with a fridge holding vaccines and other vital medical supplies.

“Even just one small fridge can cover a population of 25,000 and probably 10,000 of that population are the mothers of children that need to be vaccinated."

Director of Dulas, Ruth Chapman added: “Without equipment helping to keep medication at the optimum temperature, expensive and much-needed vaccines often become ineffective and go to waste. The UK commitment to Gavi ensures that vital vaccines continue to reach those that need them, even in the most arduous locations.”

International Development Minister Wendy Morton said: “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.”