AFRICA – Access to Medicine Foundation, an independent non-profit organization, has pointed out in its report that access to medical oxygen needs to remain a priority, urging industrial companies to shift focus to long-term solutions to address existing shortages.
The gas companies that dominate the global market for medical liquid oxygen have a key role to play in increasing and sustaining long-term access to this lifesaving product.
During COVID-19 the industrial gas companies took steps to address critical oxygen shortages in some low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
“With a small number of companies responsible for the world’s supply of medical liquid oxygen, the role they play in the global health ecosystem needs to be prioritised,” Jayasree K. Iyer, CEO, Access to Medicine Foundation.
“Medical gases are a small part of these companies’ business, yet society needs them to ensure this vital lifeline is available both during emergencies and to meet the daily medical oxygen needs of all health systems.”
COVID-19 pandemic exposed the critical need for medical oxygen and the significant existing gaps in its provision, particularly in LMICs. Countries reported unreliable access to medical oxygen before the pandemic.
In sub-Saharan Africa, 31 percent of facilities had interrupted oxygen availability and 25 percent had no availability at all. In March 2021, the Ministry of Health in Kenya reported that oxygen availability in public health facilities was low, at 16 per cent.
While progress has been made in recent years, including in response to the pandemic, there is still a significant unmet need for medical oxygen in LMICs.
In 2021, it was estimated that 73 million people with low blood oxygen (hypoxemia) attended healthcare facilities in LMICs, and of those, only 22 million were suffering from Covid-19, with many others needing oxygen due to other conditions and procedures.
Despite its inclusion in the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Model List of Essential Medicines, medical oxygen has become a commodity, with only around half of LMIC’s healthcare facilities having reliable access to the essential gas.
The World Health Organization identifies barriers to access as high costs, lack of long-term funding, lack of trained human resources, weak supply chains and unreliable power supply access.
Johann Kolstee, Research Programme Manager at the Foundation, urged industrial gas companies to make ‘clearer commitments’ with this report recommending key actions that the gas companies can do to priorities and invest in LMICs, be proactive in finding new ways of increasing supply and engaging in long-term sustainable approaches to access.
The report examines what is already being done in each area and asks the industry to prioritize and measure progress on access to medical liquid oxygen.
It calls for the development and maintenance of long-term partnerships to close access gaps by supporting health systems and the human resources required to operate and maintain medical liquid oxygen systems and administer oxygen therapy.
This comes as Hewatele, a Kenyan oxygen production firm, secured a KSh1.32 billion (US$10 million) loan from the United States US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to step up the production of affordable supplies.
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