Margo Warren on BBC: ACT-Accelerator and the need for medical oxygen access in LMICs

Margo Warren,  Government Engagement and Policy Manager for the Access to Medicine Foundation, joins programme host Julian Marshall approximately 9 minutes in to discusses the dire medical oxygen shortage in India. Margo explains that COVID-19 has exacerbated an existing oxygen shortage in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including Brazil and India. 

Margo discusses the factors that have contributed to India's current situation, warns that 44 other countries have been identified as at-risk for similar crises, and offers insight to ways the issue could be mitigated. Margo refers to the WHO-backed Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT Accelerator), which still requires 19 billion USD in funding to ensure relief is possible for countries in need. 

Finally, Margo explains that the Access to Medicine Foundation, together with the Every Breath Counts Coalition, has called on G7 leaders to finance the ACT Accelerator, and that an immediate injection of 200 million USD is needed to enable a fast response to the global oxygen shortage affecting people in LMICs. 

Click here to listen to the full interview.