Picture: Anaesthesia providers at a Lifebox pulse oximetry workshop in India. © Lifebox/Ritesh Uttamchandani
The money raised from the ±«Óãtv Radio 4 Appeal will help us to provide more pulse oximeters and run more training workshops that will empower surgical teams with the essential tools and skills they need to care for their patients as safely as possible.
We were overwhelmed by the support and donations we received in response to our ±«Óãtv Radio 4 Appeal. Thanks to the generosity of listeners, we raised an incredible £59,490! Thank you to everyone who tuned in, heard Simon’s story and donated to Lifebox. Unsafe surgery is one of the fastest growing crises in global health, with an estimated 5 billion people worldwide without access to safe and affordable operations.
Lifebox works to ensure that safe surgery is not a luxury for patients around the world. One of the ways in which we do this is by providing lifesaving pulse oximeters for use in operating theatres across Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Western Pacific. The pulse oximeter is one of the key tools to ensure patients stay safe on the operating table. Included as an essential element of the World Health Organization’s Surgical Safety Checklist, the pulse oximeter monitors the level of oxygen in a patient’s blood and is a standard piece of equipment in all UK hospitals. Unfortunately, the prohibitive cost of the devices have meant that patients in operating theatres across low-resource countries have not been able to benefit from this technology. Lifebox’s flagship programme has been to develop a low-cost, yet robust and high quality pulse oximeter which is appropriate for hospitals in these settings.
Since 2011 we have provided over 20,000 of these life-saving devices to more than 100 countries. However, there are still over 50,000 operating theatres around the world that do not have this vital tool, hindering surgical teams in their capacity to perform life-changing surgery safely.
Dr Simon Okwonga, the anaesthesia provider from rural Uganda who was featured in our appeal, recently highlighted the importance of pulse oximetry: “This little yellow box has helped us to reduce complications and deaths. Without it, it would be impossible to provide safe anesthesia to our patients”. Lifebox not only provides surgical teams with this life-saving device, we also organise local training workshops to share knowledge on safe surgery and anaesthesia protocols.
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