Oxygen as a Service
In 2021, the Oxygen CoLab awarded a UKAid funded oxygen-as-a-service pilot (O2aaS) grant to FREO2 to test the scaling of an innovative business model that ensures the sustained provision of medical grade oxygen in low-resource settings in Tanzania.
FREO2 Solar could reduce oxygen costs by 86% for communities without electricity.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the world's attention to the blight of respiratory infections and the global pneumonia crisis. As the leading infectious killer worldwide, pneumonia is considered the "forgotten killer", responsible for 2.6 million deaths in 2017. Medical oxygen is a proven and extremely cost-effective intervention, demonstrating a 35% reduction in mortality for patients with pneumonia and has been shown to be twice as cost effective as vaccination.
A conversation with Dr. Barigye on oxygen provision and how FREO2 can keep the oxygen flowing.
In the Western Region of Uganda lies the Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital (MRRH), home of some of the best health professionals and educators in the region and referral hospital for the districts of Mbarara, Bushenyi, Ntungamo, Kiruhura, Ibanda, and Isingiro. Despite being located in the second largest city in Uganda, when the FREO2 team arrived at MRRH in 2016, the hospital was grappling with a low supply of an essential medicine: oxygen.