COVID-19 oxygen emergency impacting millions in low- and middle-income countries
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 announcing the launch of a COVID-19 Oxygen Emergency Taskforce, announced the World Health organization (WHO) in a news release.
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 hospitalized patients paying a premium for scarce oxygen supplies.
Oxygen is an essential medicine, and despite being vital for the effective treatment of hospitalized 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.
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 organizations 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 Program, in order to match in-country need with potential financing, such as through the World Bank and the Global Fund. Unitaid and Wellcome will put forward up to US $20 million in total. 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.
The taskforce brings together key organizations that have been working to improve access to oxygen since the start of the pandemic including WHO, Unicef, the Global Fund, World Bank, 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.
