Event summary: GO2AL WHA side event

This high-level event was co-hosted GO₂AL and the Permanent Mission of the United Republic of Tanzania on the sidelines of the 79^th World Health Assembly (WHA).

Three years ago, Member States adopted a landmark resolution on improving access to medical oxygen at the WHA. The event provided an opportunity to reflect on progress achieved, remaining gaps, and how to sustain momentum for oxygen access in an increasingly constrained global health financing environment. Critically, in a wider context of global crises and significantly declining financing in global health, “Access to Oxygen: Catalysing Country Impact through Partnerships” also posed the question of how we can sustain this agenda.

The event was moderated Robert Matiru (GO₂AL Co-Chair and Director, Programme Division, Unitaid) with Nicholas Furtado (Senior Medical Advisor, Oxygen & Respiratory Care, The Global Fund) moderating the panel discussion on Tuesday, 19 May 2026, from 5:00 to 6:45 pm at the Global Health Campus in Geneva, Switzerland.

Event summary

Opening remarks

The audience was welcomed by Permanent Secretary Shekalaghe of Tanzania. A keynote address was delivered by Ms. Anne-Claire Amprou, Global Health Ambassador for France and Chair of the Executive Board of Unitaid. She highlighted progress made in increasing access to liquid oxygen across East Africa through Unitaid’s investments, advances in country coordination and policy alignment, as well as the cross-cutting nature of investing in oxygen — bringing both medical and economic arguments to the fore.

A short video outlining the importance of strong investment in medical oxygen was screened.

Panel discussion, Part 1: Financing oxygen systems — from commitment to sustainability

The first panel brought together:

Mr. Peter Sands, Executive Director, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
Dr. Philippe Duneton, Executive Director, Unitaid
Hon. Philip A. Telesford, Minister of Health, Grenada
Dr. Jeremy Farrar, Assistant Director-General, Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and Care, World Health Organization
Dr. Yosuke Kita, Director, Global Health Strategy Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
Dr. Raji Tajudeen, Deputy Director-General, Africa CDC
Dr. Rhonda Sealey-Thomas, Assistant Director, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)

The panel reflected on how far this community of stakeholders has come since the pre-COVID-19 era in making medical oxygen available to those who need it. Significant investments were made during and following the pandemic. However, the question of sustained investment was equally prominent — panelists underlined that oxygen plants, if not funded for operation and maintenance, become ‘more of a liability than an asset’.

The need for sustained domestic funding across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) was also stressed. Examples from Grenada, Africa and Latin America illustrated both innovation in access and the institutionalization of oxygen investments within the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPPR) policy agendas.

Importantly, the audience was reminded that access to medical oxygen should not be seen strictly as “an investment to prepare for the next pandemic, but also for next Tuesday at 9am” — a plea for reliable, continued access for the people who need oxygen day to day: mothers giving birth, patients undergoing surgery, people in situations of trauma, and many others.

Panel discussion, Part 2: Doing more together — how GO₂AL is working with countries

The second part of the discussion focused on GO₂AL-supported initiatives and the need for a multi-stakeholder approach to ecosystem-level challenges. Panelists included:

Dr. Janet Diaz, Unit Head, Safe and Scalable Care, World Health Organization
Dr. Jayasree Iyer, Chief Executive Officer, Access to Medicine Foundation
H.E. Clara Jesus Delgado, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Cabo Verde to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva
Eng. Tadeo Byabagambi, Assistant Commissioner of Biomedical Engineering Services, Ministry of Health, Uganda (via video address)

An important address was delivered by Hon. Mohamed Mchengerwa, Minister of Health of the United Republic of Tanzania, who stressed the progress made in his country and the many deaths that can still be avoided by continuing to invest in oxygen and engage through GO₂AL . The Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the United Republic of Tanzania in Geneva, Dr. Abdallah S. Possi, also reflected on how oxygen saves the lives of mothers and children and remains a paramount, life-saving priority in public health.

The audience was introduced to recent progress in the oxygen space. The Lancet Global Health Commission report quantified the oxygen access gap, finding that 60% of the world’s population lacks access to safe, affordable medical oxygen. The case was made that UHC discussions must incorporate access to medical oxygen as a cross-cutting, “horizontal” issue. Panelists also highlighted that GO₂AL has been supporting national oxygen roadmap development across a range of geographies and has produced a suite of tools and technical resources for policymakers. The Communities of Practice convened through GO₂AL’s innovation working group have brought together 60 oxygen companies and organizations from across the ecosystem, including governments, regulators and agencies.

Eng. Tadeo Byabagambi reminded the audience of the importance of biomedical engineering workforce training, providing in-country examples of how sustained investment in these roles has allowed oxygen to be produced, supplied and ultimately delivered to the patients who need it.

Cocktail reception and virtual reality experience

The audience continued conversations and partnership-building at the evening reception, where the wasn an opportunity to view the virtual reality experience developed by GO₂AL. The reception was opened by Hon. Mohamed Mchengerwa, Minister of Health, Tanzania, and Ambassador Possi from the Tanzania Mission in Geneva. The full experience will launch in the coming months, but participants were given a first look — an immersive view of what access to medical oxygen looks like in practice, drawing on real-life examples from Zambia. The experience also offered insights into the difficulty of keeping in-country oxygen ecosystems functional and patient-oriented, with first-person perspectives on medical oxygen delivery, concentrators, newborns requiring oxygen support, experiences from caretakers, TB patients and more.