African hospitals face the problem of access to medical oxygen

2021-09-04T23:22:32.745Z

Barely 3% of the African population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Access to the vaccine is a real problem on the continent. But the pandemic highlights another major challenge ...

African hospitals face the problem of access to medical oxygen

In the Covid service department of the "Manarapenitra" CHU of Andohatapenaka in Madagascar, the nursing staff point the finger at the recurring shortages of oxygen, which is nevertheless vital for all Covid patients in respiratory distress.

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

Barely 3% of the African population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

Access to the vaccine is a real problem on the continent.

But the pandemic highlights another major challenge for a significant number of African countries: access to medical oxygen.

Of the 70 countries at risk of oxygen shortages in the world, 25 are in Africa.

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This hot topic was the subject of a conference organized Thursday by the global health agency UNITAID.

All the speakers agree that there is an urgent need to find specific solutions to this problem.

South African doctor Zolelwa Sifumba was severely confronted with the lack of medical oxygen in the spring of 2020 in her rural hospital. But she also experienced it personally. “

I, a global health advocate, had no idea how to get oxygen. When you are a caregiver, it is up to you to decide who will have oxygen, who will not? And among those who have it, some die, because they do not have enough…. It's really traumatic. Sick of the Covid, I in turn had to find oxygen and I could not go to the hospital because I did not have confidence.

Shortages, inequitable access to oxygen depending on the infrastructure, excessive costs… The list of difficulties is long.

For Dr Raji Tajudeen, head of Africa CDC, a public health agency of the African Union, the solution must come from the continent.

“

If we want to guarantee the continent's oxygen security, we cannot depend on foreign imports.
We need to coordinate at the regional level in order to distribute resources correctly and not to disperse our efforts.

Last June, WHO and its partners signed an agreement with two major global oxygen suppliers, Air Liquide and Linde, to supply the countries where the needs are greatest.

African hospitals face the problem of access to medical oxygen

African hospitals face the problem of access to medical oxygen

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