While most patients and clinicians take the U.S.'s oxygen supply for granted, medical oxygen is considered a luxury outside of the developed world, according to David Barash, MD, CMO of GE Foundation — a philanthropic organization created by Fairfield, Conn.-based General Electric.
In a recent column in the The Huffington Post, Dr. Barash described the existence of "oxygen deserts" in Sub-Saharan Africa and other developing countries. A quarter of health facilities in sub-Saharan Africa never have medical oxygen available and 32 percent have an irregular supply. About 42 percent of Kenyan children prescribed oxygen did not receive it.
These oxygen shortages adversely affect millions of people across the globe. More than 800 women die a day from pregnancy-related and childbirth complications and about 2,500 children under the age of five die each day from pneumonia — conditions directly related to a lack of access to medical oxygen, according to The Huffington Post.
Expensive, inefficient supply chain practices are partly to blame for the poor oxygen accessibility, as hospitals in "oxygen deserts" are often located far away from oxygen generation plants in major cities. The oxygen must be transported hundreds of kilometers to the health facilities, which causes delays and boosts costs.
In 2013, GE Foundation partnered with UNICEF and Assist International to build oxygen plants near rural hospitals to improve access to the most basic, yet crucial human physiological need.
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