By Osoro Nyawangah
Since the start of the
pandemic, affordable and sustainable access to oxygen has been a growing
challenge in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
COVID-19 has put huge pressure on health systems, with hospitals in many LMICs running out of oxygen, resulting in preventable deaths and families of hospitalised patients paying a premium for scarce oxygen supplies.
Oxygen
is an essential medicine, and despite being vital for the effective treatment
of hospitalised COVID-19 patients, access in LMICs is limited due to cost,
infrastructure and logistical barriers.
Health
facilities often cannot access the oxygen they require, resulting in the
unnecessary loss of lives.
Recognizing the central importance of sustainable oxygen supply, alongside therapeutic
products such as dexamethasone for the treatment of COVID-19, the Access to
COVID Tools Accelerator Therapeutics pillar (co-led by Unitaid and Wellcome)is taking a new role to coordinate and advocate for increased supply of oxygen.
And,
in partnership with a WHO-led consortium, is today
announcing the launch of a COVID-19 Oxygen Emergency
Taskforce.
It
is estimated that more than half a million people in LMICs currently need 1.1
million cylinders of oxygen per day, with 25 countries currently reporting
surges in demand, the majority in Africa.
This
supply was constrained prior to COVID-19 and has been exacerbated by the
pandemic.
Dr
Philippe Duneton, Executive Director of Unitaid, said: “This is a global
emergency that needs a truly global response, both from international
organisations and donors. Many of the countries seeing this demand struggled
before the pandemic to meet their daily oxygen needs. Now it’s more vital than
ever that we come together to build on the work that has already been done,
with a firm commitment to helping the worst-affected countries as quickly as
possible.”
The
taskforce has determined an immediate funding need of US$90 million to address
key challenges in oxygen access and delivery in up to 20 countries, including
Malawi, Nigeria and Afghanistan.
This
first set of countries has been identified based on assessments coordinated by
WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, in order to match in-country need with
potential financing, such as through the World Bank and the Global Fund.
Unitaid and Wellcome will make an immediate contribution of up to US$20 million in total for the emergency response.
The urgent, short-term requirements of additional countries will be measured and costed in the coming weeks, with the overall funding need over the next 12 months estimated by ACT-A to be US$1.6 billion - a figure that will be regularly reviewed by the taskforce.Dr
Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, said:
“Oxygen is life-saving and it is imperative to move faster to scale-up
holistically with patient-centred, end-to-end solutions that improve clinical
outcomes.”
He
said WHO has been working through the Biomedical Consortium to bring the
technical, clinical and procurement partners together with about US$80 million
of biomedical equipment procured for low and middle-income countries.
Adding
that “The Oxygen Taskforce will help drive oxygen scale-up through further
innovation, financing and capacitation.”
The
Wellcome Chief Operating Officer, Paul Schreier said: “We have made
critical advances in providing lifesaving clinical care and treatments to
COVID-19 patients over the last year. The impact of the combination of oxygen
and dexamethasone to treat severely ill patients has, in particular, been
incredible.”
He
noted that global access to advances remains unequal. “We need to urgently
increase access to medical oxygen to ensure patients are benefiting regardless
of where they live and ability to pay. International solidarity is the quickest
and only way out of this pandemic.”
The
taskforce brings together key organisations that have been working to improve
access to oxygen since the start of the pandemic including Unitaid, Wellcome,
WHO, Unicef, the Global Fund, World Bank, the Clinton Health Access Initiative
(CHAI), PATH, the Every Breath Counts coalition and Save the Children.
Building
on these efforts, partners will focus on four key objectives as a part of an
emergency response plan: measuring acute and longer-term oxygen needs in LMICs;
connecting countries to financing partners for their assessed oxygen
requirements; and supporting the procurement and supply of oxygen, along with related
products and services.
Other
areas in the scope of the taskforce include addressing the need for innovative
market-shaping interventions, as well as reinforcing advocacy efforts to
highlight the importance of oxygen access in the COVID-19 response. - WHO
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