Lifebox’s Top Achievements of 2024

The Smile Train-Lifebox Capnograph being utilized during an operation at CORSU Rehabilitation Hospital in Uganda. ©Lifebox, 2024.

1. IMPROVING ANESTHESIA MONITORING WITH CAPNOGRAPHY

Lifebox and Smile Train are tackling the gap in access to safe anesthesia care  across low-resource settings with the Smile Train- Lifebox Capnographs. Together we have equipped 313 operating rooms across 17 countries, including Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Philippines, Ghana, and Nigeria. 

We launched a Capnography Action Letter with Smile Train and the World Federation of Societies of Anesthesiologists (WFSA) calling upon the World Health Organization (WHO) and national decision makers to prioritize the adoption of capnography as required anesthesia monitoring equipment for safe surgery globally.

Nursing Leadership for Surgical Excellence participants in Malawi. ©Lifebox, 2024.

2. TRANSFORMING PERIOPERATIVE NURSING

Nurses are at the core of safe surgery. Lifebox launched the Nursing Leadership for Surgical Excellence project to increase the skills and confidence of perioperative nursing. Our pilot in Ethiopia and Malawi engaged 9 nurse fellows, 5 mentors, 209 nurses, and 257 participants.

By identifying gaps in the surgical nursing care process and key training needs, the project demonstrated improvements in perioperative care quality, surgical safety, nurse skills, and satisfaction among both patients and nurses. 

Lifebox Light donated to the Rwanda Surgical Society being utilized. ©Lifebox, 2024. 

3. LIGHTING UP 802 OPERATING ROOMS WITH THE LIFEBOX LIGHT

Combating surgical lighting constraints with the Lifebox Light remains a high priority for Lifebox. 400,000 surgical providers worldwide work in health facilities with lighting issues that expose patients undergoing surgery to complications that lead to death. 

To date we have equipped 802 surgeons with Lifebox Lights across 28 countries, including Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Bangladesh, and El Salvador. 215 Lifebox Lights were supplied in 2024 alone.

Clean Cut participants at Hospital Mario Catarina Rivas in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. ©Lifebox, 2024.

4. FIGHTING SURGICAL SITE INFECTION IN 46 HOSPITALS 

We are fighting one of the most challenging complications of around the world with our highly-requested surgical site infection reduction program, Clean Cut. This past year we introduced Clean Cut to 10 additional hospitals in 6 countries, including Rwanda, DRC, Sierra Leone, and Honduras. We have also scaled up Clean Cut to 2 additional hospitals in Malawi. 

To date, we have implemented Clean Cut at 46 hospitals in 11 countries, impacting 210,807 patients, with 24,660 impacted in 2024 alone.

Dr. Mwemezi Kaino, Anesthesiologist , AIC CURE International Hospital, Kenya. ©Lifebox, 2024.

5. REVOLUTIONIZING ANESTHESIA SAFETY WITH 36,000 LIFEBOX PULSE OXIMETERS

Since our founding in 2011, we’ve revolutionized patient safety with the Lifebox Pulse Oximeter. Though a pulse oximeter is the only piece of equipment included on the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist and is a minimum standard for safe anesthesia, thousands of operating rooms around the world lack this essential device– putting millions of lives at risk. 

To date, we have distributed over 36,000 pulse oximeters, with 744 distributed in 2024 alone.