Supplying oxygen to COVID-19 patients: Essential, and a huge challenge

We cannot treat a person seriously ill with COVID-19 without oxygen. 80% of people hospitalised because of COVID-19 need between three and 15 litres of oxygen per minute. For the 20% who remain, the needs are more severe: more than 20 litres per minute.

Oxygen is therefore vital for them: without it they risk dying. But how do we give oxygen to our patients? What are the constraints of these various methods? And how do we put these systems in place in the countries where we work?

Let’s head to Aden in Yemen to understand better.

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Our response to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic