Oxygen (O 2) is a chemical element. At standard temperature and pressure, two oxygen atoms bind together to form a colourless and odourless gas with a molecular mass of 32 atomic mass units (amu). Together with nitrogen and argon, oxygen is one of the three major constituents of Earth’s atmosphere, being present in 21% of air.

Understanding the Context

Oxygen therapy is essential to counter hypoxaemia and many a times is the difference between life and death. This manual focuses on the availability and clinical use of oxygen therapy in children in health facilities by providing the practical aspects for health workers, biomedical engineers, and administrators. Overview Oxygen is an essential medicine required at all levels of the health care system; only high quality, medical-grade oxygen should be given to patients. Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen generating plants are a source of medical-grade oxygen.

Key Insights

This document provides technical specifications as the minimum requirements that a PSA Oxygen Plant must meet for use for the administration ... Medical oxygen is a life-saving medicine that is used to treat many conditions throughout the care continuum. Despite the clinical importance of medical oxygen and inclusion on the WHO Essential Medicines List, it remains a hard to access resource in health care settings. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted inequities in availability and access to this life-saving medicine and the inherent ... Publications of the World Health Organization Overview This poster is intended for health workers and other personnel on the safety and mitigation measures that need to be adhered to when dealing with medical oxygen.

Final Thoughts

Medical oxygen, either in liquid or gas form, is an oxidizing agent that can result in a fire or explosion if not handled properly. Foundations of medical oxygen systems has been complied to capture definitions, technical requirements, tools and resources related to medical oxygen systems based on information available in January 2023. This publication aims to make relevant and practical material accessible for Member States, policy makers, implementing partners, practitioners, biomedical engineers and technicians. More than half a million COVID-19 patients in LMICs estimated to need oxygen treatment every day.New assessments show US$90 million immediate funding required to meet urgent need in up to 20 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Unitaid and Wellcome will make an immediate contribution of up to US$20 million in total for the emergency response.COVID-19 Oxygen Emergency Taskforce brings ... COVID-19 oxygen emergency impacting more than half a million people in ...