Posted on :Thursday , 3rd July 2025

Unitaid, an international organisation that promotes access to cutting-edge health products in low- and middle-income countries, has chosen Nikkiso Co., Ltd. to deliver medical oxygen production plants as part of a regional health program. To increase local oxygen production, the initiative would install four air separation units in Tanzania and Kenya. In much of sub-Saharan Africa, medical oxygen is still critically scarce, despite being essential for surgery, emergency care and the treatment of serious respiratory disorders. This project intends to increase East Africa's access to life-saving oxygen while reducing prices and increasing production capacity. With a $7.3 million donation to Unitaid, the Japanese government has supported the initiative.

Representative Director, President and CEO Koichi Kato began by saying, "We are proud of our partnership with Unitaid and the Kenyan and Tanzanian manufacturers on this groundbreaking initiative to close the crucial shortage of oxygen in East Africa. Nikkiso has been handling the problem of enhancing global health for many years by supplying dialysis machines and other medical equipment all over the world. We are pleased to be able to use our innovative strategy of a medical oxygen manufacturing facility to address this significant issue."

Dr. Philippe Duneton, Executive Director of Unitaid, stated, "We are not only addressing an immediate health need but also creating a sustainable market that will increase regional self-reliance by empowering regional manufacturers to operate and manage advanced liquid oxygen facilities. Together, with the governments of Kenya and Tanzania, partners like Nikkiso and Kenyan and Tanzanian manufacturers, we are building a long-term solution that will save lives, strengthen local economies and provide a model for scalable innovation in global health."

Unitaid is leading the East African Program on Oxygen Access (EAPOA). In order to make medical oxygen more accessible for health care systems throughout the region and allow for the treatment of thousands more patients every month, the program seeks to increase medical oxygen production in East Africa by 300% and lower oxygen prices by up to 27%.

The World Health Organization's (WHO) Unitaid program saves lives by lowering the cost of new medical items for people in low- and middle-income nations. Improving availability to medical oxygen has been recognised as one of its main issues in response to the global scarcity of medical oxygen required for treatment during the COVID-19 epidemic.