The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the crucial role data and insight can play in making informed decisions around the prioritisation of scarce health resources and stimulating vaccine demand within vulnerable groups. Additionally, the pandemic highlighted the shortage of medical oxygen in many countries. Over 700,000 babies and young children are dying prematurely from pneumonia because they do not have access to oxygen in low-resource-settings.

According to WHO’s latest COVID-19 strategy, many of those at greatest risk from the disease still remain unprotected. Only 28% of older people and 37% of health care workers in low-income countries have received their primary course of vaccines and most have not received booster doses.

The Oxygen CoLab is focused on answering: Can we accelerate global access to oxygen in low-resource-settings through working on market readiness and technology issues at the same time?

The Vaccine Data CoLab is focused on answering: How might approaches powered by hyperlocal data increase vaccine uptake in under-immunized and vulnerable communities?

DT Global uses a collaborative approach to convene the right partners and make a better future a reality by:

• Bringing together groups that have influence, expertise, funding, and other essential contributions
• Creating an environment in which they can interact, learn from one another and accelerate change.

We also laboratory approach by testing our assumptions and generating evidence to we can all learn from:

• Testing new approaches and ideas are through focused experimentation cycles, to find what works.
• Sharing the learning with the world to unlock future progress.

The ultimate goal of the Oxygen CoLab is to contribute to accelerated and sustained access to fit-for-purpose oxygen concentrators in underserved health centres and hospitals. To achieve that we are working across three key pillars: accelerating oxygen product innovation, catalyzing market traction, and enabling a collective response.

In 2021, we fostered collaboration between typically siloed oxygen actors by engaging with 100+ oxygen experts, running six global workshops, and providing networked learning with 20 innovators.

Together, we identified the latest innovations in development and enabled a path to market through grant-funding. We also brought together specialists from across the oxygen ecosystem to explore the causes of oxygen concentrator breakdowns and understand the innovations required.

We looked to understand the mechanisms that would improve both commitment and capability for bringing a fit-for-purpose oxygen concentrator to market. This included the testing of innovative business models for oxygen provision, in the form of Oxygen as a Service (O2aaS), which could enable sustainable and secure access to oxygen in the future.

In 2022, innovators are providing life-saving oxygen in Tanzania and India in areas where it was previously unavailable. The CoLab has also catalysed product development for seven promising oxygen concentrators and accelerated the pace towards an industry-validated Target Product Profile.

The Vaccine Data CoLab is looking to build stronger systems to support a hyperlocal data approach to identify who is hesitant, where they are, and why. The goal is to help future donors and governments design targeted vaccine behaviour change programmes.

Over the course of the programme we have:

• Convened collaborations with global vaccine research and data partners to avoid costly duplication (estimated 6-figure sums) of effort and translate research into action on the ground across 18 countries.
• Field tested COVAX GIS (geographic information systems) Microplanning handbook and e-Learning tools to support the capacity building of governments and local partners to use and apply GIS data for public health challenges.
• Helped FCDO Nigeria with using data dashboards developed by Fraym to use in their COVID-19 digital micro-planning to design better real-time interventions.