Lifebox Australia and New Zealand
Lifebox Australia and New Zealand (Lifebox ANZ) is a joint, regional project developed to ensure access to life-saving monitoring during surgery, through the purchasing and distribution of pulse oximeters and capnographs to hospitals across the Asia Pacific region. The project also focuses on training local personnel in the use and maintenance of the pulse oximeters and capnographs.
This project, building on the work of the Lifebox Foundation in the UK and US, enables supporters in Australia and New Zealand to make tax-deductible donations directly to this work, and for hospitals across the region to request pulse oximeters and capnographs and receive support in their use.
Lifebox Australia and New Zealand is a joint project of the Lifebox Foundation, the Australia and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA), the Australian Society of Anaesthetists (ASA) and the New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists (NZSA).
“Lifebox pulse oximeters are making a difference. When we did the training, it was not only important for the anaesthesia providers, but now the surgeons, nurses and other people in the medical field realize the necessity of monitoring and oxygen”
– Dr Thang, President of the Vietnam Society of Anaesthesiologists.
Lifebox ANZ supported the global Lifebox COVID-19 response with the distribution of 100 pulse oximeters across Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, and elsewhere for frontline use. Pulse oximeters are a crucial tool in the detection and triage of COVID-19 patients. ‘Silent hypoxia’ is a defining feature of the disease, with patients slowly starving of oxygen without the usual shortness of breath that would see them seek care. By the time many COVID-19 patients are having trouble breathing – they are already critically ill. The best tool to detect these patients is a pulse oximeter.
About Lifebox
Lifebox is a global nonprofit tackling the crisis of unsafe surgery. Through tools, training, and partnerships, Lifebox make surgery and anesthesia safer worldwide.
Lifebox was founded by the same individuals that created the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist. Lifebox has worked in 116 countries, trained more than 14,400 healthcare providers, and made surgery safer for 248 million patients. This work spans improving anesthesia safety – including capnography and pulse oximetry – reducing surgical infection through the Clean Cut program, and strengthening surgical teamwork.