ELECTRIFY AFRICA ACT PASSED!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ADVOCACY!
On February 1st, 2016 the Electrify Africa Act passed in Congress. We want to thank you for sending over 6,300 emails supporting the bill to your Congressional leaders. The Borgen Project held nearly 400 Congressional meetings while working to get the legislation passed in Congress and we want to thank our donors who’ve provided the fuel to help drive this key bill through Congress.
Nearly 70 percent of people in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to electricity, so they live without lights, refrigeration, life-saving medical treatments, machines to produce goods, and modern technologies. The Electrify Africa Act provides 50 million people with access to electricity by 2020.
The Problem: Electricity is crucial to the form and function of modern life, but an astonishing 70 percent of people in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to such power. This lack of electricity causes schools, hospitals and businesses to be decades behind the rest of the world. In addition to the educational and economic ramifications of no access to electricity, there are huge costs to public health. Globally, more people die every year from indoor smoke inhalation from open fire cook stoves than from HIV/AIDS and malaria combined. Electricity also allows for much better care in hospitals and medical clinics. The lack of access to electricity is one of the biggest health issues facing Africa.
The Bill: The Electrify Africa Act provides 50 million people with access to electricity. The legislation builds on the success of the Power Africa initiative.
- Read House Version (H.R. 2847)
- Read Senate Version (S.2152)
- Senate Cosponsors – Before the committee vote, S.2152 was S.1933 (view S.1933 Cosponsors)
- House Cosponsors
