Charities warn of growing medical oxygen emergency while donors ‘sit on their hands’

Prior to the pandemic, medical oxygen was a scarce and expensive commodity in low-income countries where pneumonia remains the biggest killer of children. With the dramatic recent spike in COVID19 transmission rates in Sub-Saharan Africa, the demand has further outstripped supply. Charities say a humanitarian crisis is brewing and they are calling for an emergency oxygen response, focusing first on ten African countries.