Background, Details, and
Success Stories
Can "No ventilator available" really be eradicated as a systemic cause of death?
The world is full of success stories. Back in the 1960's and 70's already, a coordinated global vaccination effort managed to completely eradicate Smallpox. That was an impressive feat in so many aspects. And it demonstrated what's possible. Massive positive developments are continuing, even if they are often drowned out by momentary, spectacular, negative news.
Polio is almost eradicated. There are great advancements in the fight against many diseases. The WHO and organisations like the Gates Foundation are doing amazing work in these areas. And there is amazing global progress in practically all areas, from health, education, and income inequality to population growth, child mortality and equal rights. Things are getting much better much faster than we usually realize. The fact tank gapminder.org is a great source for surprising and inspiring data and information on global developments.
There is proof all over the world that amazing improvements can be achieved. And yes, "No ventilator available" can be eradicated as a systemic cause of death. Especially because this concept saves billions of $ in addition to millions of lives all over the world.
One for all
The most fascinating aspect about this project is that for once there is one subject where everybody's interests align.
Whether you're rich or poor and wherever you live - for your hospital to have enough ventilators available when they're needed for you or the people you love is crucial.
Saving tax money without reducing benefits to anybody is the one thing that all taxpayers can agree on.
And in emerging and middle income countries the wide range of positive effects from improved healthcare is proven. Lowered childhood mortality for example reduces population growth and leads to a focus on education that in turn improves just about every aspect of life and society.
Implementation
In middle income countries and humanitarian crisis areas the on-the-ground experience and the networks of humanitarian organisations are great assets for the most efficient implementation and utilization of the crisis ventilators.
Economical impact
In any humanitarian project it is crucial to consider a potential economic impact. Uncoordinated donations of food for example can impact the livelihood of local farmers.
But that's no problem for the global crisis ventilator project. The regions with severe shortages of ventilators don't have ventilator manufacturers, potential regional medical distributors don't sell any significant numbers of them, and the ventilator manufacturers in high-income countries don't offer any products that could satisfy the existing demand for affordable ventilators. After all, that's the reason for the global shortage.
Crisis ventilator production on the other hand will support and create jobs. Production has to be very efficient, but the ventilators still have to be assembled and tested.
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