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World Oxygen Day provides an opportunity for the Global Oxygen Alliance (GO₂AL) to recognize the collective efforts of our members working to improve access to medical oxygen around the world.
Throughout 2026, organizations across the GO₂AL community have continued to combine their expertise, resources and partnerships to strengthen oxygen systems and help close persistent access gaps in low- and middle-income countries. In celebration of World Oxygen Day, we are sharing a selection of updates from our members that illustrate this work in action.
Uganda’s Model for Oxygen Delivery Wins the Global Health Supply Chain Grand Prize
Uganda’s Ministry of Health has adopted Exchange on Delivery as its national model for oxygen cylinder distribution, after CHAI and the Ministry piloted it in the Jinja and Mubende regions. Under the previous system, a single truck and fewer than 5,000 cylinders served the entire country, leading to chronic stockouts. The new model swaps empty cylinders for full ones at the point of delivery.
CHAI implemented the pilot through the MOXI program, funded by the Gates Foundation and ELMA Philanthropies, working alongside the Ministry to document the results and build the case for national adoption. Nationwide adoption has since transformed the last-mile distribution of medical oxygen in Uganda, cutting transport costs per cylinder by 67% and more than halving regional stockout rates. In 2025, the Ministry and CHAI were awarded the Global Health Supply Chain Summit Grand Prize in Kigali for building a sustainable, government-led medical oxygen ecosystem.
Strengthening critical care for mothers and newborns in Mozambique
At Nampula Central Hospital in northern Mozambique, investments from the Global Fund and partners have strengthened the systems that deliver medical oxygen to patients. As the largest referral hospital in the region, Nampula Central serves more than 7 million people and helps deliver up to 50 babies a day. Its teams provide care for women and newborns with life-threatening complications, and other patients with serious illnesses and injuries.
“Prior to oxygen being produced at the hospital, cylinders had to be taken 200 kilometers away to be filled and then brought back,” says Dr. Merunissa Gafur, the hospital’s clinical director. “Staff had to carry the cylinders throughout the hospital, constantly changing them. Now, with oxygen being produced onsite and with pipelines to the wards, everything is easier.” More reliable access to medical oxygen is helping the hospital provide safer, more effective care for some of its most critically ill patients.
Read the full article here
Oxygen for Life, a virtual reality experience
Oxygen For Life, the first virtual reality experience to document the critical role of medical oxygen, previewed on 22 September during UNGA at the Innovation Lounge in Devex Impact House’s UHC Pavilion. GO2AL members PATH and Every Breath Counts Coalition (EBC) allowed participants to experience our virtual reality tool, and engage.
Representatives of Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health, UNICEF, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Gates Foundation, the Global Fund, Partners In Health, Save the Children, FHI 360, the Clinton Health Access Initiative and other organizations came away with a deeper appreciation of what is at stake when patients cannot get oxygen – and a stronger commitment to closing that gap. The Oxygen for Life Initiative was developed through GO₂AL with contributions from its working groups, including support from Unitaid, PATH, and the Every Breath Counts Coalition, and produced by REM5 Studios. Special thanks to the Zambian Ministry of Health, participating hospitals, patients and their families, and to Nonin Medical and Novair for their contributions to this project.
Stay tuned for more information on Oxygen For Life on the web – soon, organizations will find details on hosting an event and bringing the experience to more decision-makers.
WHO underscores importance of reliable oxygen access in Ebola response
During the ongoing Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, WHO is highlighting the critical importance of reliable access to medical oxygen as part of quality, life-saving care in health emergencies.
As treatment capacity has expanded across affected provinces, WHO notes that oxygen remains unavailable or unreliable in many health facilities, particularly in emergency settings. Ensuring access to oxygen goes beyond equipment and cylinders: it requires functioning infrastructure, trained health workers and sustainable systems capable of delivering oxygen to patients when and where it is needed. WHO and its partners are drawing on lessons from previous oxygen scale-up efforts during Ebola and Marburg responses to strengthen care and improve patient outcomes.
Read the full WHO article
Bringing respiratory support to crisis settings
Unitaid is helping bring lifesaving respiratory support to newborns and children in humanitarian and crisis settings by supporting access to Vayu’s bubble continuous positive airway pressure (bCPAP) systems. The systems are being deployed in Kenya’s refugee camps, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Cameroon and northern Ethiopia, helping health workers provide respiratory support in settings where electricity, oxygen supplies and other essential infrastructure cannot always be relied on.
Read more here about how Unitaid has helped take this technology from innovation to access, and how simpler approaches to respiratory support are helping premature babies breathe in some of the world’s most challenging settings.
As the global health community looks towards the end of 2026, GO₂AL and its members will continue to explore opportunities to keep medical oxygen access high on the agenda. Upcoming global health gatherings, including the 5th International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA) in Addis Ababa and the World Health Summit in Berlin, could offer important platforms for continuing the conversation around stronger and more resilient oxygen systems.