This project is based at icddr,b in Bangladesh, JDRH in Bhutan, KGMU in India & AKU in Pakistan. Overview Project title: Oxygen preparedness and security: coordinated multi-country national surveys (4 countries) Programme: Infectious Diseases Based at: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (Bangladesh), Jigme Dorji Wangchuk National Referral Hospital (Bhutan), King George's Medical University (India) & The Aga Khan University (Pakistan) Start date: 2022 End date: 2026 Principal investigator: Project team: Harish Nair, Shams El Arifeen, Steve Cunningham, Ahmed Ehsanur Rahman, Mimi Lhamu Myna, Shally Awasthi, Divas Khandelwal, Shabina Ariff, Sajid Soofi Background Hypoxaemia, or low levels of oxygen in blood, is a common symptom of severe pneumonia, COVID-19 pneumonia and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). National health programmes in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) give little attention to addressing hypoxaemia, and access to pulse oximetry and oxygen is generally very low. RESPIRE was approached by the Ministry of Health (MOH) in Bangladesh to design and implement a national oxygen security survey during the first phase (2016-21) of funding. During the current phase of funding, RESPIRE (2022-2026) will extend this work as a multi-country project with MOH partners. Aim and Impact This project aims to assess the readiness of oxygen delivery systems for promoting oxygen security. The study will be conducted at national or regional levels in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Pakistan – four diverse LMIC settings that will provide a base-line for the findings to be generalised more broadly. The project will generate new large-scale data on oxygen security, which can be used to promote dialogue with policymakers, to improve the availability of pulse oximetry and oxygen in the four countries. There will be further potential for the study to be expended on a regional or global scale. This article was published on 2024-09-24
