#Covid-19: Oxygen Emergency Taskforce launched as Africa struggles with shortage
Source: Health E-News
As the demand for oxygen soars across the world during the Covid-19 pandemic, the World Health Organisation says there is a growing shortage in Africa and Latin America.
Access to oxygen is a growing challenge in low- and middle-income countries, with more than than half a million Covid-19 patients needing oxygen treatment every day.
Covid-19 has put huge pressure on health systems, particularly in developing countries. Reports from Nigeria, for instance, show that some hospitals are running out of oxygen, resulting in preventable deaths.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa has weighed in on the need to share more technology and to pool resources. Speaking during the virtual launch of Global Citizen’s Recover Better Together Campaign, he also called on world leaders to support the COVAX facility to ensure rapid and equitable access to the Covid-19 vaccines for all countries.
“To fight the pandemic, we need to pool resources, capabilities, knowledge and intellectual property. That is why we continue to call on world leaders to support the COVAX facility to ensure rapid and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines for all countries. Another important step is to enable the transfer of medical technology for the duration of the pandemic,” said Ramaphosa.
His comments underscore shortages in medical technology in Africa. The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that there are fewer than 2,000 working ventilators in public hospitals across 41 African countries. In comparison, the United States has more than 170,000 ventilators.
Oxygen for the Global South
Oxygen is an essential medicine and the number of oxygen concentrators in sub-Saharan Africa grew from two thousand to over six thousand since March 2020, with the majority of these in South Africa.
The WHO said the launch of the Covid Tools Accelerator Therapeutics pillar co-led by Unitaid and Wellcome has ensured better access to oxygen. On the 25 February the WHO also launched the Covid-19 Oxygen Emergency Taskforce.
Unitaid Executive Director Dr Philippe Duneton said the Taskforce now needs an additional $90 million US to address delivery of the all-important gas in up to 20 countries including Malawi, Nigeria and Afghanistan.
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,” said Duneton.
“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,” he said.
The number of cylinders needed per day across the developing world is around 1.1 million according to WHO data with the biggest surge in demand reported in Africa.
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