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58 min ago 3 min read
A US-based charitable trust has committed $18.3m in grants to the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) as part of an effort to bring reliable medical oxygen to an estimated 64 million people in Ethiopia and Ghana.
Through two grants to CHAI, the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust (Helmsley) is working with the Ministries of Health to strengthen health systems in the African nations.
Part of the funding includes an $8.9m three-year grant that builds on Helmsley’s earlier work in Ethiopia, which, alongside other donors, has helped connect 888 health facilities to 23 oxygen plants.
According to Helmsley, the share of supported facilities providing oxygen therapy rose from 59% to 100% between 2023 and 2026.
The share of hypoxemic patients receiving oxygen rose from 79% to 99% during the same period, said the charity.
The latest investment aims to expand oxygen access to more than 1,200 health facilities, served by 61 oxygen plants and reaching an estimated 60 million people.
“We are investing to strengthen and expand the medical oxygen ecosystems in Ethiopia and Ghana so that this lifesaving product will be available to everyone who needs it,” said Walter Panzirer, a Trustee of the Helmsley Charitable Trust.
A separate $9.4m three-year grant will go towards building a hub-and-spoke oxygen supply network for 270 health facilities across four underserved and hard-to-reach regions of Ghana. The programme is expected to reach around four million people.
Under the model, a hospital with its own oxygen plant acts as the hub, supplying smaller surrounding facilities. This shortens supply routes and reduces reliance on cylinders transported over long distances, helping to improve the reliability of oxygen supplies.
“These grants back government-led systems that serve every patient who needs oxygen and that keep running long after the grants end,” said Zach Katz, Vice President of Child Health at CHAI.
Coinciding with World Pneumonia Day on 12 November, the grants aim to improve access to oxygen therapy for patients with pneumonia and other respiratory conditions.
Figures from UNICEF suggest pneumonia claims the lives of more than 700,000 children under five globally each year, with sub-Saharan Africa accounting for the greatest share of deaths.
“Medical oxygen is one of the most essential tools we have for treating lower respiratory infections, the dominant cause of deaths across most sub-Saharan African countries,” said Panzirer.
The announcement comes the release of a report from Uganda’s central government that raised fresh concerns over the reliability of the country’s healthcare infrastructure.
