With countries worldwide experiencing second and third waves of COVID-19, many patients are struggling to access healthcare services for vital COVID-19 care. Lifebox has partnered with India COVID SOS to develop resources for the home use of pulse oximeters to monitor COVID-19 patients. COVID patients may suffer from “silent hypoxia” – with patients becoming hypoxic without […]
For the third year running, Lifebox ran to sign up and attend the Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland Conference – now in its 90th year, dignified and dedicated as ever! More than 1,500 Rotarians from across the country gathered in sunny Belfast at the Waterfront Conference Centre, a grand venue with its toes on the […]
Back in March, Côte d’Ivoire was in the news for devastating reasons. Violence dominated the headlines, by chance the same week that Lifebox was in town for a very different story: safer surgery. This is a story that begins by acknowledging the challenges of resources and workforce in delivering safe surgery, and the knock on effect for […]
Philip Ongom’s old pulse oximeter finally stopped working last February during an emergency caesarian section. Ask him about that moment and the anaesthetic officer, who has worked at a district hospital in Western Uganda for six years, remembers every detail with agitated clarity. “[The mother] had had eight pregnancies and five miscarriages – she needed this […]
“South Sudan is a brand new country, adjusting to its newfound independence. The infrastructure and the finances are not yet fully developed, and Juba Teaching Hospital frequently has no electricity or running water. However, when there is emergency surgery to be done, we have to work in spite of this. It is not uncommon to […]
Monday morning we were happy to see our our old friend Dr Rebecca Jacob, newest president of the Indian Association of Pediatric Anesthesiologists, heading across the red carpet. She brought along the WFSA paediatric committee to say hi (and give a high-drama demonstration of the oximeter!). They reminded us about how important it is to have a neonatal […]
Robert is the director of Diamedica, a manufacturer of anaesthesia equipment fit for purpose in low-resource settings. He recently returned from Chad, in central Africa, where he took a Lifebox pulse oximeter to leave alongside the Glostavent anaesthesia machine he went to install. He sent us an update after his return: A few hours by […]
But the civil wars of the 1980s and 90s wrecked lives and infrastructure. The school of anaesthesia in the capital Monrovia closed down, and the one in Phebe was always on the retreat to ‘safer areas.’ Training halted and many anaesthetists were amongst those killed. Today there are just 22 nurse anaesthetists for a population […]
When we first heard about the Boston Lifebox Challenge earlier this year, we knew better than to get caught in the crossfire! We watched as ideas, enthusiasm and events ricocheted across the city, and are thrilled to duck and share, with our thanks, the below article straight from the website of one of the challengers: “When […]
Lifebox sent an oximeter and the hospital found funding to buy some additional units. But Benson told us some very difficult stories about his anaesthesia practice, and we knew that these few units wouldn’t be enough to keep patients safely monitored in the operating rooms across the region. That was back in October. Coming on for […]
