Journée mondiale contre la pneumonie : les efforts d’Unitaid visant à accroître l’accès à l’oxygène à usage médical dans le monde contribueront à réduire la mortalité infantile

Geneva – On World Pneumonia Day 2022, Unitaid reaffirms its commitment to address global inequities in access to medical oxygen as a key driver to reduce the number of deaths in children under five years old.

Despite being preventable and curable, pneumonia, an acute form of respiratory infection, remains the world’s biggest infectious killer of children under-5 years, accounting for more than 740,000 deaths in 2019, mostly in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Coupled with antibiotics, medical oxygen could save the lives of many children who develop severe pneumonia. But many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face serious challenges in accessing safe and affordable oxygen.

Even before the pandemic, it was estimated that 9 in 10 hospitals in LMICs lacked access to life-saving oxygen therapy. COVID-19 has only worsened this situation, leading to many preventable deaths and straining fragile health systems.

Challenges for accessing safe and affordable oxygen are multiple and can range from availability, quality, affordability, management, supply, human resources capacity and safety.

Unitaid has invested US$ 130 million to date to secure sustainable access to oxygen and expand access to pulse oximeters, essential life-saving portable devices that can detect when medical oxygen is needed. This work could potentially save the lives of as many as 320,000 pneumonia deaths a year, according to the World Health Organization estimates.

Unitaid has been addressing access to medical oxygen since 2019 through a diverse portfolio of investments including piloting pulse oximetry and fever management at primary health care level to identify and refer critically ill children to hospitals without delay, advancing improved non-invasive ventilation strategies for newborns and oxygen concentrator technologies.

Spearheading progress through market shaping interventions (improved affordability, increased production capacity and accelerated equipment delivery times), technical support and capacity building, Unitaid and partners are also leading efforts to scale-up access and availability to medical oxygen, implementing adequate and sustainable oxygen solutions in LMICs.

Among key achievements, Unitaid has supported oxygen needs assessments in 51 countries, has contributed to securing price reductions for liquid oxygen following unprecedent agreement with two major gas companies that enabled other scale-up partners to secure increased access with the same funding levels, and has ensured sufficient oxygen supply by installing or repairing oxygen production plants and piping systems and other respiratory care equipment.

Increasing the availability of medical oxygen commodities and ensuring a sustainable oxygen ecosystem will enable greater impact of Unitaid’s work to both improve child survival with triage and treatment tools and help respond to future global health emergencies, two programmatic priorities of Unitaid’s strategy 2023-2027.

Boosting medical oxygen supplies in the Democratic Republic of Congo

For more information:

Sarah Mascheroni

mascheronisa@unitaid.who.int

For media requests:

Maggie Zander

Communications officer

M: +41 79 593 17 74

zanderm@unitaid.who.int

En cours de traduction

28 October, Geneva – World health leaders launched a call to action on financing tuberculosis (TB) today in Bali, Indonesia, where they met ahead of the G20 Summit to discuss strengthening global health architecture.

G20 members recognize that lack of adequate financing remains the top obstacle to ending the TB epidemic, and stress that global investments must increase fourfold by 2030 to meet the targets set for ending this preventable and treatable disease.

The call to action coincides with the recent launch of the World Health Organization’s 2022 Global TB Report, which laid bare the devastating consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on global efforts to control TB.

The report showed an increase for the first time in many years in the number of people falling ill with TB and drug-resistant TB, along with a decline in 2021 in global spending on essential TB services.

At the same time, G20 members underscored the critical role Unitaid plays in the TB response as the world’s largest multilateral donor to TB research and development, striving for equitable access to life-saving diagnostics and treatment.

Unitaid has contributed to the global efforts by supporting research related to multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) treatment, paediatric TB diagnosis, child-friendly formulations of TB and MDR-TB drugs, TB preventive therapy (the 3HP regimen), and digital adherence technologies. The agency is investing an additional US$ 30 million, aiming to increase TB detection and help to find the missing millions of cases.

Following discussions on strengthening the global health architecture and pandemic prevention, preparedness and response , G20 health ministers delivered six key actions for consideration during the G20 Leaders’ Summit in mid-November.

Unitaid, as a key player for equitable access to health innovation, remains committed to help build global health resilience and response capacity against future pandemic threats.

As co-leader of the ACT-Accelerator’s therapeutics pillar, Unitaid has contributed to substantial progress in the COVID-19 response, demonstrating its unique capability to transform markets and help countries and communities achieve an enabling environment for product adoption.

“Responding to the COVID-19 health crisis, Unitaid and partners have improved access to critical oxygen supplies and facilitated adoption of life-saving therapeutics alongside vital diagnostic tests. But this is not the end of it, much work remains to be done,” Unitaid Executive Director Dr Philippe Duneton said. “We must focus on building resilience at the market and country level in light of unpredictable and fast evolving scenarios. COVID-19 has shown us that reaching equitable global access to medical countermeasures requires a continuum between pandemic preparedness and response efforts.”

 

Access more information on the Call to Action on Financing for TB Response here.

Access the G20 Health Ministers Communiqué here.

For more information:

Sarah Mascheroni

mascheronisa@unitaid.who.int

 

For media requests:

Maggie Zander

Communications officer

M: +41 79 593 17 74

zanderm@unitaid.who.int

La République de Corée réaffirme son soutien à Unitaid pour assurer un accès équitable aux outils de santé

Dr Philippe Duneton, Executive Director of Unitaid and Marisol Touraine, Chair of Unitaid’s Executive Board with Mr. Park Yong Min, Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs (left) and Mr. Won Do-Yeon, Director-General of the Cooperation Bureau and Unitaid Board Member (right).

 

Geneva – Unitaid welcomes the contribution of US$5 million from the Republic of Korea to support the implementation of its new strategy.

The Republic of Korea has supported Unitaid’s essential role in the fight against HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and, more recently, COVID-19 as a key donor and member of the Executive Board since 2007.

This latest commitment of funding builds on an US$80 million total contribution from the Republic of Korea since Unitaid’s inception, including support to Unitaid’s COVID-19 response work as part of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A).

“The Republic of Korea strongly appreciates Unitaid’s work in ensuring access to health innovations and will continue to strengthen its cooperation with Unitaid,” said Mr. Park Yong Min, Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs.

Unitaid is grateful for the Republic of Korea’s longstanding support and renewed financial contribution. We value the Republic of Korea’s leadership in global health driven by the Korean biotechnology companies’ excellent R&D and manufacturing capacity,” said Marisol Touraine, Chair of Unitaid’s Executive Board.

The funding commitment was announced on the sidelines of the World Bio Summit, co-hosted by the Republic of Korea and the World Health Organization.

For media requests:

Maggie Zander

Communications officer

M: +41 79 593 17 74

zanderm@unitaid.who.int

Le Canada s’engage à verser 25 millions de dollars canadiens à Unitaid pour élargir l’accès durable à l’oxygène à usage médical

Genève et New York – Unitaid se félicite de la contribution canadienne de 25 millions de dollars canadiens pour soutenir le travail de l’organisation visant à améliorer l’accès à l’oxygène médicinal dans les pays à revenu faible et intermédiaire, dans le but de soutenir la réponse à la COVID-19 et aux futures urgences en santé.

Le Premier ministre Justin Trudeau a annoncé ce nouveau financement en marge de la septième session de reconstitution des ressources du Fonds mondial, lors de l’Assemblée générale des Nations Unies à New York.

L’importante contribution du Canada vise à soutenir les efforts du Groupe de travail sur l’oxygène pour accroître davantage l’accès à l’oxygène liquide, réduire les coûts du gaz et des équipements, renforcer les infrastructures, élargir la capacité technique et assurer une utilisation sécuritaire de l’oxygène médicinal dans les pays à revenu faible et intermédiaire.

Ce financement contribuera à élargir l’accès durable à des solutions d’oxygène adéquates et abordables, et aidera les pays à élaborer des feuilles de route nationales stratégiques en matière d’oxygène et à se préparer aux menaces futures pour la santé.

Avec cette aide supplémentaire, le Canada a fourni 60 millions de dollars canadiens à Unitaid visant à soutenir un accès équitable aux traitements pour la COVID-19, y compris l’oxygène à usage médical, par le biais de l’Accélérateur ACT.

Dr Philippe Duneton, directeur exécutif d’Unitaid, a déclaré : “Personne ne devrait mourir à cause d’un manque d’oxygène. Je suis très reconnaissant au Canada pour cette importante contribution au travail qu’Unitaid mène avec ses partenaires pour remédier aux inégalités mondiales dans l’accès à ce médicament essentiel. Ce nouveau financement permettra de sauver des vies dès maintenant et de préparer le monde aux futures urgences sanitaires.”

Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau and Dr. Philippe Duneton, Executive Director of Unitaid

Premier ministre du Canada, Justin Trudeau avec Dr Philippe Duneton, directeur exécutif d’Unitaid

L’oxygène est un médicament essentiel utilisé pour traiter de nombreuses affections touchant les nouveau-nés, les enfants et les adultes. C’est un traitement vital pour les cas graves de COVID-19. On estime que 75 % des personnes hospitalisées peuvent survivre grâce à l’oxygénothérapie seule.

Investir dans l’oxygène maintenant permettra de sauver des vies bien au-delà de la pandémie en renforçant les systèmes de santé et en réduisant de manière significative les décès chez les nouveau-nés, les enfants et les femmes en couches. L’oxygène restera un outil essentiel pour répondre aux futures urgences sanitaires.

Unitaid travaille sur l’accès à l’oxygène à usage médical depuis 2019 par le biais d’un portefeuille diversifié d’investissements, notamment en pilotant l’oxymétrie de pouls et la gestion de la fièvre au niveau des soins de santé primaire pour identifier et orienter les enfants gravement malades vers les hôpitaux, en faisant progresser les stratégies améliorées de ventilation non invasive pour les nouveau-nés et les technologies de concentrateurs d’oxygène médicinal.

Unitaid préside le Groupe de travail d’urgence sur l’oxygène créé en février 2021 pour piloter l’effort multilatéral de soutien à l’accès à l’oxygène et codirige le pilier thérapeutique de l’Accélérateur ACT avec le Fonds mondial et Wellcome.

Pour plus d’information :

Sarah Mascheroni

mascheronisa@unitaid.who.int

Pour toutes demandes médias :

Maggie Zander

Chargée de communication

M: +41 79 593 17 74

zanderm@unitaid.who.int

Les oxymètres de pouls de nouvelle génération pourraient largement réduire la mortalité maternelle et infantile, d’après un rapport de PATH et Unitaid

A technology and market landscape report by PATH and Unitaid

To date, maternal and child mortality rates remain unacceptably high. In 2020, still over 5 million children under 5 years of age died, mostly in low- and middle-income countries, and mostly from conditions that are preventable or treatable, such as pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria and preterm birth complications.

To reach maternal and child global health targets by 2030[1], equitable access to innovative devices that have the potential to support health care workers in low-resource settings as they make decisions and provide fit-for-purpose treatment solutions, is urgently needed.

Pulse oximeters (POs) are noninvasive devices that measure blood oxygen saturation and pulse rate. They are used to help health care workers detect hypoxemia – a low level of oxygen in the blood – and to know how much oxygen to administer to patients. Detecting hypoxemia can allow timely treatment with oxygen therapy and save hundreds of thousands of lives each year.

The PATH-Unitaid technology and market landscape report, launched today, reviews the nascent global market for the next generation of pulse oximetry – multimodal POs.

These devices expand the features of standard POs by collecting additional clinical measurements, such as respiratory rate, temperature, and/or haemoglobin integrated into a single device that is appropriate for use in low-resource settings. These promising products can provide objective measurements to caregivers, via the same device and at the same time, to support clinical decision-making and ultimately save lives.

The report analyzes existing and emerging products and aims to assess their potential to improve screening for various illnesses that affect maternal and child health in low- and middle-income countries.

The report also examines market and technological challenges that hamper the adoption, scale-up and wide access in low-resource settings to these potentially lifesaving tools and maps out opportunities to overcome barriers limiting equitable access, including issues related to quality, availability, affordability, demand and supply.

Multimodal POs that are affordable, high-quality, and appropriately designed have the potential to achieve meaningful impact.

In addition to reducing mortality, multimodal POs could further optimize efficient use of resources and reduce the overall strain on health systems by minimizing the need for costly testing, strengthening referral decisions, and reducing unnecessary hospitalizations, intensive therapy, and overuse of antibiotic treatments.

In its work to address fever management and promote the adoption and scale-up of POs in primary health care, Unitaid has a portfolio of two complimentary grants for this purpose. Namely, Améliorer l’Identification des Détresses Respiratoire chez l’Enfant (AIRE) led by the Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA) and Tools for Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (TIMCI), led by PATH.

As part of the broader TIMCI project, PATH is currently initiating an evaluation and operational research study to assess performance and feasibility of using these tools by primary health care providers in Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uttar Pradesh, India.

Over the past four years, Unitaid and PATH have worked together to expand access to high-quality POs and clinical decision support algorithms to enable primary health care workers to better identify severely ill children and refer them for appropriate treatment without delay. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the need for reliable access to such devices as part of sustainable and equitable oxygen delivery system even more to light.

  • Access the Next Generation Pulse Oximeters Technology and Market Landscape here

[1] Sustainable Development Goal 3: Target 3.1, By 2030, reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births. Target 3.2, By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and under‑5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births.

Related projects and publications:

For more information:

Sarah Mascheroni

mascheronisa@unitaid.who.int

For media requests:

Maggie Zander

Communications officer

M: +41 79 593 17 74

zanderm@unitaid.who.int

Invitation to local manufacturers of liquid oxygen to submit an expression of interest (“EOI”) for financial and technical support to improve access and affordability of liquid and medical oxygen in Sub-Saharan African countries.

Call for Expression of Interest (CEI)

The purpose of this CEI is to identify opportunities to support local suppliers interested in increasing availability and affordability of medical oxygen for public procurers.

Closing Date: 5pm (GMT), 30 July 2022

Webinar on this EOI

Please join Unitaid and MedAccess for a webinar providing potential applicants with more information on the EOI.

Date: 20 July 2022 at 12pm CEST

Join via Zoom: https://unitaid.zoom.us/j/84130020292

US$ 83 million of investments from Unitaid to address global inequities in access to oxygen will drive long term benefits, Unitaid urges other donors to commit more funding for medical oxygen

Boilerplate Press Release by Oxygen Donors

Today, Unitaid urgently calls on other donors to commit more funding for medical oxygen to help close the US$1 billion funding gap in the oxygen response. Its US$ 83 million of total investments to date to address global inequities in access to oxygen will drive long term benefits for low- and middle-income countries. But more funding is needed to save lives now and support countries prepare for future health emergencies.

Unitaid joined a total of 5 donor countries, multilateral organizations, and foundations that announced examples of their collective contributions to address the large shortfalls in access to oxygen for patients, including those hospitalized with COVID-19, in low- and lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) around the world. Addressing global inequities in access to oxygen, since the beginning of the pandemic, Unitaid has invested US$ 83 million towards increasing liquid oxygen availability, repairing broken oxygen equipment, upskilling biomedical engineers, and supporting countries to identify needs and develop strategic national oxygen roadmaps.

Even prior to COVID-19, access to medical oxygen was inadequate to meet the needs of health systems in most LMICs. In addition to COVID-19 patients, there is a vast patient population who also need oxygen therapy, including newborns in respiratory distress, children with pneumonia, sepsis, and/or congenital heart disease, adults with tuberculosis, malaria, and/or HIV/AIDS and/or chronic respiratory conditions like COPD, and patients requiring surgery.

Prior to the pandemic, much of the world took access to oxygen for granted — however, headlines reporting oxygen shortages, and their tragic consequences, have changed this. Access to oxygen has become a key plank of the COVID-19 pandemic response. Oxygen is an essential treatment for severe COVID-19 – 75 percent of people hospitalized can survive with oxygen therapy alone. Without oxygen, these patients cannot survive.

During the pandemic, donors around the world have mobilized more than US$800 million in grant financing to help LMICs avert oxygen shortages. These investments have already helped millions of patients, and will be vital components of systems needed to respond to future health emergencies. But, they are not enough. An additional US$1 billion is needed to prevent further oxygen shortages in LMICs in the next year alone. More support from governments, foundations, high net worth individuals, and the private sector would be warmly welcomed by Unitaid. People sick with severe COVID-19 or other conditions must not be left to die simply due to a lack of oxygen in medical facilities.

Donors making announcements today include the Government of Germany, The Global Fund, the Skoll Foundation, Unitaid, and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Unitaid Press Release

US$ 83 million of investments from Unitaid to address global inequities in access to oxygen will drive long term benefits, Unitaid urges other donors to commit more funding for medical oxygen

  • Unitaid’s investments of US$ 83 million in access to medical oxygen have spurred significant progress and will drive long term benefits for low- and middle-income countries
  • As Chair of the ACT-A Oxygen Emergency Taskforce, Unitaid is urging other donors to commit more funding to further enhance global access to medical oxygen, save lives now and prepare for future health emergencies
  • To enhance country preparedness and sustainably diversify the oxygen market, Unitaid and MedAccess are working to identify opportunities to support local and regional suppliers of liquid oxygen interested in increasing availability and affordability of medical oxygen for public procurers 

Geneva, 21 June 2022 – Unitaid has invested US$ 83 million to date to address global inequities in access to oxygen in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, filling an immediate access gap for safe and affordable oxygen to those who needed it most and laying the groundwork to improve access to oxygen over the long term.

These investments support the work of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) Oxygen Emergency Taskforce, led by Unitaid, to expand sustainable access to adequate, affordable oxygen solutions such as bulk liquid oxygen, oxygen generation systems and other important oxygen equipment in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

The Unitaid-funded grants have helped to increase liquid oxygen supplies, lower costs, strengthen infrastructure, expand technical capacity, and ensure safe use of medical oxygen.

As part of broader partner efforts to assess the oxygen needs of over 100 countries and access funding available through the Global Fund, the World Bank and other partners’ funding mechanisms, Unitaid’s investments directly supported this work in 18 countries.

Among other significant progress and achievements made to date, Unitaid has procured more than US$ 15 million in emergency supplies, delivering nearly 30,000 cylinders, 2,000 concentrators, more than 5,000 pulse oximeters – an essential portable device that can detect low oxygen in the blood – and 3 PSA plants for oxygen, to 33 countries.

Thanks to Unitaid’s leadership, an agreement with two major gas companies, Air Liquide and Linde Group, was successfully brokered securing ~15% price reductions for bulk liquid oxygen versus current pricing, between 10 to 15% reductions for cylinders and up to 43% reductions in filled cylinder pricing, paving the way for long term agreements for access to liquid oxygen. With this, 19 tanks for bulk liquid oxygen for LMICs were reserved and countries such as Zambia and Ghana, were able to meet surge demand across several hospitals.

Unitaid is now exploring how to support countries to build robust oxygen systems that can meet current needs and prepare for future health emergencies, and to ensure the market is ready to respond to demand surges. For that purpose, Unitaid and MedAccess, will launch in the coming days a call for expressions of interest* to local and regional manufacturers of liquid and gaseous oxygen to receive financial and technical support to expand affordable oxygen supply in sub-Saharan Africa.  The end goal is to identify opportunities to support suppliers and increase the availability and affordability of medical oxygen for countries.

But more funding is needed to scale-up medical oxygen supply and prepare countries for future health threats.

Oxygen is a lifesaving treatment but also a high-return health investment that will keep on saving lives beyond the pandemic and significantly reduce deaths among newborns, children, women in childbirth, and adults with both communicable and non-communicable diseases.

Investing in oxygen will pay dividends now and going forward, as a critical foundation for future health emergencies. Therefore, Unitaid urgently calls on other donors for more funding in medical oxygen to help close the US$1 billion funding gap in the oxygen response.

* The call for expression of interest will be published here.

About the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) Oxygen Emergency Taskforce (Oxygen Taskforce)

The Oxygen Taskforce was launched in February 2021 to bring together key partners already working to address critical oxygen gaps, as part of a coordinated COVID-19 response. The Oxygen Taskforce is led by Unitaid, under the Therapeutics Pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator. Partner organizations include Unitaid, WHO (and the Biomedical Consortium it coordinates), UNICEF, The Global Fund, the World Bank, UNOPS, the Every Breath Counts coalition, CHAI, PATH, Save the Children, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Access to Medicine Foundation, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

Media contact:

For more information and media requests:

Sarah Mascheroni

Communications officer

Email: mascheronisa@unitaid.who.int

Mobile: +41 79 728 73 11

FIND, Unitaid and partners from the access to COVID-19 tools (ACT) Accelerator diagnostics pillar call on the G20 and G7 to prioritize diagnostics in its pandemic preparedness and response plans

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that access to timely, accurate diagnostics is fundamental to effective healthcare. The Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator is a unique but time-limited partnership that was set up to respond to the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

G7 and G20 countries, have so far pledged US$ 18.3 billion to the ACT-Accelerator, of which US$ 12.36 billion has been pledged to the vaccines pillar, COVAX. The G7 in its Health Ministers’ Communiqué (20 May 2022, Berlin) stated:

“We underline our support for all four pillars of the ACT-Accelerator, including its COVAX facility and recognize that supporting the ACT-Accelerator by all means, including with adequate funding, is central to end the acute pandemic.”

The ACT-Accelerator has played a critical role in delivery of diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. Investments by ACT-Accelerator partners will deliver benefits for global health programmes beyond COVID-19.

Testing and sequencing allow us to track disease evolution and spread, and facilitate access to treatments. As world leaders including the G7 and G20 are aligning efforts for future pandemic preparedness and creating a G7 Pact for Pandemic Readiness, FIND, Unitaid and ACT-Accelerator Diagnostics Pillar partners call on both G7 and G20 to reaffirm commitments relating to diagnostics as part of the 100 Days Mission put forward during the UK G7 Presidency in 2021:

  • Ensure enhanced surveillance systems are in place for early threat detection
  • Point-of-care testing platforms are developed and rolled out worldwide to diagnose disease outbreaks as they happen
  • Manufacturing capacity is established globally, in a coordinated and distributive framework for rapid technology transfer to minimize over-reliance on any one source and keep supply pipelines open
  • Testing systems are linked to rapid public health interventions, breaking chains of transmission in real time – and keeping health systems from being overwhelmed
  • Worldwide testing is actionable and accompanied by linkages to treatment and care through accelerated development of vaccines and therapeutics, which can be rolled out in 100 days
  • Global equitable access to tests, vaccines and therapeutics, including medical oxygen, is assured

Addressing shortfalls in diagnostic testing must be an urgent priority. Deficiencies in testing affect not only people’s lives, but communities and economies as well as our ability to ensure we can manage existing and future outbreaks of diseases, as COVID-19 showed clearly. Strong global leadership and political will is needed to accelerate change and lead the world towards a better future.

Media contact:

For more information and media requests:

Sarah Mascheroni

Communications officer

Email: mascheronisa@unitaid.who.int

Mobile: +41 79 728 73 11