Resources

As COVID-19 spreads around the world, PATH in India is working to lessen its impact. PATH is partnering with governments, innovators, and peers across the country to plug the gaps in health systems and provide support to develop and strengthen systems that are preventing, identifying, tracking, and responding to the COVID-19 outbreak. This includes policy, preparedness, information, education and communications support, capacity-building and strengthening, digital and data strategies, accelerating innovations, and collaboration with partners.

Medical devices are an important health care investment, supporting effective treatment of a range of medical conditions across the life span. However, in many low- and middle-income countries, they quickly fall into disrepair due to poor management and maintenance over time. The Asset Management Guide offers resources to help track medical device upkeep and, over the long term, improve future procurement decisions.This resource is part of the Oxygen Delivery Toolkit: Resources to plan and scale medical oxygen. The materials provided within the toolkit can be used together or separately, as needed. The complete toolkit is available at www.path.org/oxygen-delivery-toolkit.

Oxygen scale-up requires coordination across seven interrelated areas: policy and political commitment; financing; baseline assessment; quantification; procurement; distribution; and management and training. Within each area of engagement, there are decision points and actions to take, informational tools that can help countries achieve success in that area, and examples from illustrative countries.This report outlines tools and recommendations that exist for each area of engagement. It also introduces the Oxygen Delivery Toolkit: Resources to plan and scale medical oxygen.

It is important to be able to quantify the unmet need for medical devices before seeking to procure new ones. In addition, the price to procure medical devices is often viewed as only the initial capital expense to purchase it. However, medical devices incur operating costs over time. It is essential to understand the initial and long-term costs associated with different purchasing options in order to make informed procurement choices.The Quantification and Costing Tools are Excel-based resources that quantify the potential need for oxygen and pulse oximeters; based on these estimates of need, they calculate the anticipated costs over time for meeting this need with different device types.The resources include:Quantification and Costing Tool: Oxygen Delivery Sources (Excel-based tool)Quantification and Costing Tool: Pulse Oximetry Devices (Excel-based tool)Quantification and Costing Tools for Oxygen and Pulse Oximetry fact sheet - available in English and French (PDF document)This resource is part of the Oxygen Delivery Toolkit: Resources to plan and scale medical oxygen. The materials provided within the toolkit can be used together or separately, as needed. The complete toolkit is available at www.path.org/oxygen-delivery-toolkit.

While most people with COVID-19 develop only mild or moderate respiratory tract disease, approximately 20 percent develop severe or critical disease that requires oxygen therapy to support breathing. In many health facilities across low- and middle-income countries, however, oxygen therapy—including diagnosis, generation, and delivery equipment—is not reliably available.Many of the tools and capabilities needed to overcome these barriers already exist across different global health and implementing organizations, manufacturers and suppliers, and country governments. To ensure that those who need respiratory care support due to COVID-19, or beyond, receive it, immediate steps are necessary to coordinate the global response that prioritizes reliable access to oxygen.This fact sheet offers an overview of the project to support countries in planning and executing a respiratory care plan to meet the demands of COVID-19, as well as pursue strategies to help prioritize and improve access to oxygen therapy and other essential equipment involved in respiratory care as an integral part of health systems strengthening, beyond the pandemic response.