£40k SMP Oxygen Appeal Successfully Completed
13 August 2021
In February 2021 more than 300 individuals and organisations donated a total of £40,500.09 to an emergency appeal managed by the Scotland Malawi Partnership’s Oxygen Supply Coordination Group. The SMP is delighted to share the final report from the Chair of its Oxygen Supply Coordination Group, Alberto Gregori, about the Emergency Oxygen Appeal which the SMP facilitated earlier this year.
Watch the latest briefing
Watch the latest briefing on the appeal from Alberto Gregori, Chair of the Oxygen Supply Coordination Group, at 1:08:00.
In keeping with its Partnership Principles, the SMP worked through volunteer Scottish healthcare professionals, who took time to listen to the needs and priorities of Malawians leading the fight against Covid-19. Through this process, it was quickly apparent that simply purchasing new oxygen concentrators was not the best use of the donated funds because the international delivery times for new hardware were extremely slow, such were the global supply issues. However, it was obvious that there was a significant quantity of existing hardware, already in Malawi, which was not currently operational but could be fixed relatively cheaply. This approach allowed far greater impact of the funds on the ground (over $500,000 of hardware has been fixed so far, with funds for many months of operations still remaining) as well as being far more sustainable.
The SMP worked through a local NGO ‘Open O2’, which supported local volunteer engineers to travel across Malawi fixing and maintaining oxygen concentrators and identifying essential equipment and supplies that were lacking. Following these local priorities, the SMP also purchased 300kg of zeolite (essential for fixing oxygen concentrators in Malawi), 100 Oxygen Saturation Monitors (essential for the treatment of those with Covid-19), and 52 Bullnose regulator valves and 52 flowmeters (to allow usage of oxygen cylinders at district and central hospitals).
The SMP advanced donations, such that as soon as the appeal was launched the funds were already being put to good in Malawi, with 95% of all raised funds successfully allocated and transferred soon after the close of the appeal. The final 5% was donated to install local oxygen delivery piping at Kamuzu Central Hospital Emergency Covid-19 Treatment Unit in August 2021, following a visit to Malawi by the Coordination Group Chair, Mr Alberto Gregori, (at his own cost) assessing the impact of donations and listening to local priorities.
The SMP is keen to put on record its significant thanks to:
All who donated to this hugely inspiring appeal
Alberto Gregori, who has volunteered an incredible amount of time, energy and expertise since January to lead this effort, working tirelessly to ensure every pound makes the greatest possible impact.
All those who have been involved and supported this appeal, in so many different ways, in Scotland and Malawi.
