Building on
a legacy of success

Building on a legacy of success

In February 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic and amidst widespread global oxygen shortages, the world’s leading health agencies created the Oxygen Emergency Taskforce as part of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A). This global taskforce responded to the urgent need for oxygen in LMICs, coordinated the response of health and development agencies, and, together, its member organizations mobilized financing to help LMICs address acute oxygen shortages.

• Enabling emergency procurement of oxygen supplies and equipment (including cylinders, concentrators, consumables and pulse oximeters) for over 120 countries.
• Procuring over 879 PSA plants, in most instances including support for site assessment, delivery and installation of the plant.
• Supporting 27 countries with their development of costed oxygen roadmaps and/or national oxygen guidelines (which are published or in the process of being developed).
• Providing training to over 74 000 health workers and biomedical engineers in over 100 countries.
• Increasing oxygen affordability through market-shaping interventions, including securing price reductions of 22% for liquid oxygen (LOX) and up to 43% for filled cylinders to address hospital surge demand.

The achievements of the ACT-A Oxygen Taskforce member organizations include:

• Enabling emergency procurement of oxygen supplies and equipment (including cylinders, concentrators, consumables and pulse oximeters) for over 120 countries.
• Procuring over 879 PSA plants, in most instances including support for site assessment, delivery and installation of the plant.
• Supporting 27 countries with their development of costed oxygen roadmaps and/or national oxygen guidelines (which are published or in the process of being developed).
• Providing training to over 74 000 health workers and biomedical engineers in over 100 countries.
• Increasing oxygen affordability through market-shaping interventions, including securing price reductions of 22% for liquid oxygen (LOX) and up to 43% for filled cylinders to address hospital surge demand

GO₂AL launched as a new multistakeholder collaborative

In May 2023, WHA Resolution WHA76.3: Increasing access to medical oxygen was adopted by all 194 WHO Member States and called on world leaders and governments to position medical oxygen systems as an important component of UHC and PPPR. WHA76.3 recognized oxygen as a lifesaving essential medicine, urged Member States to develop, finance and implement plans to scale up access to medical oxygen, and requested the WHO Director-General to advocate for and support Member States in their efforts to include oxygen as part of a strong health system and UHC. The Director-General and Member States also committed to reporting on progress toward the implementation of the resolution in 2026, 2028 and 2030.

GO₂AL was launched on the sidelines of the WHA in May 2023 as a multistakeholder collaborative to continue the work of the ACT-A Oxygen Emergency Taskforce, and has been designed to harness and focus the collective power of its members towards the common objective of closing the oxygen access gap and saving lives. GO₂AL brings together stakeholders from countries, donors, technical and implementing agencies, and advocates to leverage expertise and facilitate joint efforts to mobilize resources and support oxygen system strengthening in LMICs.

First year achievements

In the first year since its launch, despite limited funding of less than US$ 500 000 and fewer than two full-time staff, GO₂AL , leveraging the commitment and collaboration of its members has:

• Launched GO₂AL and onboarded and organized member organizations into working groups.
• Jointly hosted several high-level events during the WHA and World Health Summit to keep oxygen on the global agenda.
• Developed and launched foundational global goods such as the world’s first Global Oxygen Strategic Framework and Investment Case, which provided the first estimates of the return on investment from scaling up oxygen access across LMICs.
• Supported the world’s first National Oxygen Scale-Up Framework Meeting: Road to Oxygen Access in Dakar, Senegal, in May 2024, convened by WHO. This meeting brought together representatives from over 60 countries to co-develop a template for national oxygen plans.
• Raised US$ 2 million in initial seed funding to support its function to coordinate, co-create and co-implement activities.

Since its launch, GO₂AL member organizations continue to support over 50 countries to increase access to pulse oximetry and medical oxygen.