Welcome to our first quarterly update for 2025!
The start of this year has been marked by significant momentum, building upon the foundations laid in 2023 and 2024. It also unfolds against a backdrop of significant global shifts, including an evolving funding landscape that challenges traditional approaches.
With this call towards greater efficiency, and recognizing this global shift, we are evolving, adapting, and innovating. We are moving beyond “business as usual” while remaining focused on our mission of building sustainable, resilient healthcare systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) by championing the maintenance and repair of biomedical equipment.
In Q1, our focus sharpened on:
- Leveraging data to pinpoint critical needs.
- Strengthening the collaborative power of biomedical engineering networks.
- Forging strategic partnerships that drive lasting impact.
This requires us all to step out of our comfort zones and embrace new ways of working together. The convening of stakeholders to ignite conversations around a Health Technology Management Community of Practice in Tanzania—catalyzed by our situation analyses and facilitated by Oxygen Alliance and Touch Health on March 20th—exemplifies this essential shift.
Engaging Ministries: A Pathway to Sustainability 🏛️
Understanding the biomedical landscape is the foundation for bringing meaningful change. Following successful analyses in Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, and most recently Kenya and Ethiopia, we were pleased to launch a new Situational Analysis in Liberia this January.
In collaboration with the Ministries of Health in the respective countries, this analysis across a total of 84 facilities provides invaluable baseline data on equipment status, maintenance practices, infrastructure, and workforce needs.
So what next after the data collection? Action. These findings unlock a strategic pathway for facilities, supported by our comprehensive approach:
- 01 | Regular Audit and Feedback 📋
- Using standardized metrics to track progress.
- 02 | Dedicated Coaching & Mentoring 👨🏫
- From dedicated Oxygen Alliance teams.
- 03 | Access to Practical Support Tools 📱
- Including practical tools like the BME-Konza App.
Steering this entire collaborative improvement journey is our Biomedical Engineering Maturity Model, a framework meticulously designed to help participating facilities assess current capabilities and chart a clear roadmap towards greater proficiency.
Empowering Biomedical Engineers: Tools, Training & Recognition 🛠️
Biomedical Engineers (BMEs) are the backbone of functional healthcare facilities. This quarter, we continued investing in resources and platforms to support them:
Webinars 🎙️
This quarter, our webinar series honed in on sterilization in healthcare settings, delivering a five-part series on autoclaves. We also proudly hosted partners Better Futures CoLab and ECRI, who unveiled the groundbreaking Oxygen Concentrator Directory – a unique resource showcasing real-world performance data to aid decision-making.
BME-Konza App Enhancements 📲
Based on user feedback, we added new manuals and videos (now 35 resources total), enhanced user profiles, and introduced an in-app feedback feature. The BME-Konza app continues to be a hub for troubleshooting, knowledge sharing, and powerful insights for health technology management.
Supporting Regional BME Networks 🌐
Discussions with the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE) focused on strategies to better support BME professional societies across Africa. A recent DAK Foundation and Oxygen Alliance training program in Liberia, conducted by Diamedica’s MD, Engineer Jonathan Meek, is an excellent illustration of such an initiative in action.
Collaboration Amplifies Impact 🤝
Our work is inherently collaborative. This quarter saw continued efforts to build bridges across the healthcare ecosystem to scale impact and drive systemic change:
Global Alignment 🌍
The launch of the Lancet Global Health Commission on Medical Oxygen Security in February highlighted the urgency of our work. Oxygen Alliance is proud to contribute to the solutions called for by the Commission.
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Strengthening Professional Ties 🔗
Our continued engagement with IFMBE and GCEA explored concrete ways to align efforts between global biomedical organizations and national-level initiatives to ensure global expertise translates into local impact.
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National Collaboration ties
The EIZ partnership in Zambia and the convening of stakeholders for a Community of Practice in Tanzania exemplify our commitment to working with national bodies to build local capacity and ownership.
👉 [Explore a partnership with us]
Engaging Industry 🏭
We initiated promising discussions with industry leaders on training, education, and equipping skills labs to ensure manufacturers play a role in the sustainable use and maintenance of their technologies in LMICs.
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Get Involved
🌍 Visit our website: [link]
📱 BMEs: Download the BME-Konza App!: [link]
🤝 Interested in partnering?: [link]
📄 Submit your manuscript to BEST-LMIC: [link]
