At Temeke Hospital in Tanzania, Dr Joseph Kimaro sees regularly how access to medical oxygen can mean the difference between life and death. His team hauls hundreds of oxygen cylinders through the hospital corridors each month, an expensive, unreliable lifeline. Yet many hospitals across the region don’t even have that option, lacking access to medical oxygen altogether.
Medical oxygen is one of the most essential yet under-supplied tools in health systems across low- and middle-income countries. It supports safe childbirth, surgery, trauma care, and treatment for a wide range of respiratory diseases. When it’s unavailable, patients – from newborns with fragile lungs to adults with severe infections – face a dramatically reduced chance of survival. Pneumonia is one of the most common and deadly examples, claiming more than 2.5 million lives each year, including over 700,000 children under five.
Through a first-of-its-kind public–private initiative, Unitaid and partners are helping build a reliable regional supply of liquid medical oxygen. By scaling up production of liquid medical oxygen in Kenya and Tanzania and expanding delivery across neighboring countries, the initiative is ensuring hospitals have a steady, affordable, and sustainable supply of this essential medicine.
Watch how Unitaid and partners are transforming access to oxygen across East Africa:
