0
0
Late one night, 44-year-old Irene Mabande’s four-year-old daughter Emerald suffered a severe asthma attack at home in Tubmanburg, the capital of Bomi County in the northwest of Liberia. “She was striving for air. She couldn’t breathe on her own,” Mabande recalls. “In the hospital, they don’t have a nebulizer for asthmatic patients, so the only thing that could bring her back was oxygen.”
Reliable access to medical oxygen is a vital component of a robust health system, a life-saving essential medicine that supports critical medical interventions and helps to ensure effective responses to a wide range of health challenges. However, a lack of uninterrupted access to oxygen in Liberia has contributed to preventable deaths, a problem amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, when demand for medical oxygen surpassed the country’s capacity.
“This was a significant gap in our response to the pandemic,” says Dr Adolfos T. Yeaih, Director of Emergency Response Services at Liberia’s Ministry of Health. “And the little oxygen that we could acquire from commercial sources did not have the kind of purity that was required to treat people adequately.”
In a bid to address this deficit, in 2022, local health authorities, with funding from the European Union, USAID and the German government, and support from World Health Organization (WHO), established two new state-of-the-art pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants. One plant is at the Star Base on Bushrod Island in Monrovia, and the other at Liberia Government Hospital in Bomi County.
Recognizing the importance of uninterrupted power for sufficient, consistent oxygen production, WHO also procured and installed backup generators for the new plants, supplied diesel fuel for their operation, and facilitated the connection of the Star Base plant to the national grid to further enhance its reliability.
These plants were established to complement three pre-existing on-site medical oxygen plants in Liberia, only one of which supplies oxygen to other health facilities. In contrast, the new plants distribute oxygen cylinders to health facilities across five counties, serving a population of approximately 2.3 million people. From April 2023 to June 2024, they produced and distributed a total of 4551 cylinders, delivering crucial support to over 2000 critically ill patients.
Mabande’s daughter was one of the beneficiaries of this important intervention, which has seen the percentage of health centres and hospitals providing medical oxygen nationwide increase from 51% in 2021 to 67% in 2023. “As soon as they established the oxygen, she started taking breaths, and she was stabilized,” Mabande says. “She came back.”
Sylvester Tolgai is a nurse anaesthetist at Liberia Government Hospital, where until recently this kind of positive outcome was all too often not the case. “Oxygen supply was a real problem within this hospital,” he says. “The establishment of the oxygen plant has been a great help for us. It has helped us to reduce the mortality rate at the hospital. It is a really good initiative for us and our patients.”
As part of a comprehensive roadmap to keep scaling up access to medical oxygen across all 15 of Liberia’s counties, WHO has also supported the Ministry of Health in training over 200 clinicians on oxygen therapy. Twenty biomedical engineering technicians have also gained expertise in the safe operation and maintenance of the new oxygen plants, while a dedicated training centre was established at the Star Base plant for ongoing capacity building.
The roadmap also seeks to repair damage to existing PSA plants, improve emergency preparedness and critical care delivery, install medical gas piping in all major referral hospitals across Liberia, and equip ambulances with sufficient oxygen supply and advanced life support features.
“Liberia has made significant strides towards ensuring access to medical grade oxygen for all,” says Dr Clement Peter, WHO Representative in Liberia. “As COVID-19 highlighted, medical oxygen can be the difference between life and death and the country must be commended for making this a priority in its pursuit of universal health coverage.”
Back in Tubmanburg, 39-year-old Hawa Morris plays with her 18-month-old daughter Princess outside her home. Last year, Princess was admitted to Liberia Government Hospital with severe bacterial infection. “Without the oxygen, she would not be here today,” Morris says.
“I am so grateful.”
World Health Organization
About Author
OTHER ARTICLES
Zambia : The vital role of community health assistants in public health surveillance
Lusaka — African health ministers and partners are calling for increased investment in integrated health services to address the growing burden of severe noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), particularly those affecting women and underserved populations across the region. At a high-level side event during the Seventy-fifth session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa, delegates emphasized the urgent need for equitable access to prevention, screening, treatment, and rehabilitation across the continuum of care for NCDs. Disparities are especially pronounced in rural areas, where health infrastructure and services remain inadequate. Breast and cervical cancers are among the leading causes of cancer-related deaths among women in sub-Saharan Africa—particularly cervical cancer, which is both preventable and treatable. It remains the most common cause of cancer death for women in the region. In 2022, Africa accounted for nearly a quarter (23%) of the 76 000 global cervical cancer deaths. Meanwhile, severe NCDs such as Type 1 diabetes, sickle cell disease, and heart conditions claim more than half a million lives annually, including among children, adolescents, and young adults in some of the continent’s poorest communities. Inequitable access to health services continues to hinder efforts to reduce this burden. To improve cervical and breast cancer care in the region, urgent investment is needed in leadership, governance, and financing. Strengthening these foundations is critical in the current funding landscape. Advancements in strategic planning, healthcare infrastructure, workforce training, and—most importantly—equitable access to screening, diagnostic, and treatment services are essential. To address these challenges, WHO and its partners showcased successful integrated models such as the Women’s Integrated Care for Cancer Services (WICS), the BEAT Breast Cancer Project, and the PEN-Plus Strategy. WICS strengthens early detection, treatment, and integration of women’s cancer services into primary health care systems in Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, and Zimbabwe. The BEAT Breast Cancer Project is a transformative multi-year initiative aimed at reducing breast cancer mortality among women in Tanzania and Ghana through early detection, timely diagnosis, and comprehensive treatment access. “PEN-Plus, WICS and the BEAT Breast Cancer Initiative are models for a new standard of care, rooted in equity, access and health justice. I urge countries to prioritize policies that embed these models into broader health system strengthening, said Dr Mohamed Janabi, WHO Regional Director for Africa”. Côte d’Ivoire offers a compelling example of progress, combining high HPV vaccination coverage—reaching over three million girls (91.4%)—with WICS-supported community-based screening campaigns to strengthen cervical cancer prevention. In Kenya, cervical cancer screening has been successfully integrated into national health services. “This gathering marks a pivotal moment to accelerate action for breast cancer prevention in Africa. We deeply value the leadership of the Ministries of Health of Ghana and Tanzania, and the steadfast support of the Pfizer Foundation in helping us achieve this milestone. The side event builds momentum for the policy prioritization of women’s cancers, partnerships to strengthen the broader women’s cancer ecosystem, and advance a health-systems approach to breast cancer prevention and management”, said Dr Somesh Kumar, Senior Director, Jhpiego. PEN-Plus expands access to care for severe NCDs at the district hospital level. Since its implementation, 20 countries in Africa have increased access to services for severe NCDs. Over 15 000 people are currently receiving treatment for chronic conditions such as sickle cell disease and Type 1 diabetes through PEN-Plus clinics.
Confirmed Case of Mpox in Senegal: Situation Update (as of August 27, 2025)