Kenya and Tanzania are increasing their capacity to produce medical-grade liquid oxygen through new locally operated manufacturing facilities, marking a significant step toward enhancing the resilience of health systems and regional self-sufficiency throughout East and Southern Africa. The project, which is supported by Unitaid and has technical assistance from Nikkiso, a well-known Japanese business, will create three cutting-edge liquid oxygen production facilities that will be operated by oxygen producers in Kenya and Tanzania, strengthening health systems and fostering long-term sustainability.
This project is a component of the East African Program on Oxygen Access (EAPOA), a bold endeavor led by Unitaid to close the region’s large oxygen access gap. In order to make medical oxygen more accessible for health care systems throughout the region and allow for the treatment of thousands more patients each month, the program seeks to increase medical oxygen production in East Africa by 300% and lower oxygen prices by up to 27%.
Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa Majaliwa stated at the groundbreaking event in Dar es Salaam that “increasing local oxygen production is a crucial step toward ensuring no patient goes without this lifesaving resource.” By increasing our supply’s self-sufficiency and decreasing our need on other sources, this investment improves our capacity to satisfy rising demand. Building long-term capacity in our region is more important than ever.
Medical oxygen is an indispensable, life-saving medication that cannot be replaced. Numerous infectious disorders, as well as chronic heart and lung conditions, such as pneumonia, COVID-19, advanced HIV infection, severe types of tuberculosis, and malaria, are treated with it. In addition, oxygen is essential for critical care, emergency, and surgery, as well as for the life of mothers and newborns. However, a large portion of sub-Saharan Africa still lacks enough resources; some nations receive less than 10% of the oxygen they require. Nikkiso is contributing to the delivery of life-saving solutions and the closure of significant gaps in oxygen supply throughout the region by building locally owned and operated liquid oxygen production plants in East Africa.
“We are not only meeting an urgent health need but also establishing a sustainable market that will boost regional self-reliance by enabling regional manufacturers to run and oversee advanced liquid oxygen facilities,” stated Dr. Philippe Duneton, Executive Director of Unitaid. “We are constructing a long-term solution that will save lives, boost local economies, and serve as a model for scalable innovation in global health in collaboration with the governments of Kenya and Tanzania, partners like Nikkiso, and Kenyan and Tanzanian manufacturers.”
In collaboration with Unitaid, Nikkiso will work with regional oxygen manufacturers and suppliers to establish facilities for the manufacturing of liquid oxygen in strategic areas, such as Mombasa and Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In order to guarantee that medical oxygen reaches underprivileged regions, significantly increase the supply of medical oxygen, and meet urgent needs, these facilities will be a component of a regional network of liquid oxygen manufacturing facilities, also known as air separation units. These facilities will have a major regional influence by supplying not only their own countries but also their neighboring countries, such as Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda, and Zambia.
Koichi Kato, Representative Director, President, and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “We are proud to collaborate with Unitaid and the Kenyan and Tanzanian producers on this innovative project to address the critical oxygen gap in East Africa.” Nikkiso has been tackling the problem of enhancing global health for a long time by supplying dialysis machines and other medical equipment all over the world. We are pleased to contribute to the solution of this significant problem with a novel approach to medical oxygen manufacturing facilities.
The choice of Nikkiso for this project demonstrates the company’s capacity to provide scalable, effective, and dependable oxygen production facilities. This accomplishment follows an intense, competitive bidding procedure run by the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), which assessed top businesses worldwide.
In addition to demonstrating the potential of creative public-private partnerships to improve access to healthcare for individuals in low- and middle-income nations, the development of these institutions is a major step toward improving health care results in East and Southern Africa.
