As of May 2020, developed nations have purchased most available ventilators. Leaving developing nations out of the supply chain, ill-equipped to deal with a looming crisis:
- At least 10 African nations have less than 1 ventilator per million people.
- As of April 17, Somalia had 0 working ventilators.
- There are 20,356,053 people for every ventilator in DR Congo.
- India, with a population of 1.35 billion people has 40,000 ventilators
To even out the global odds against the COVID-19, a team of engineers and medical professionals have developed a breathing machine made with off-the-shelf components that bypass typical supply chains. It can be built anywhere for $500-700, using widely available parts.
It’s called AmboVent, and it works by using an algorithm and robotic arm to squeeze a common rescuscitator (Ambu) bag to deliver oxygen directly to the patient’s lung. It was developed by a team of engineers and medical professionals who dedicated over 6,000 hours to the project.Now, we need your help raising funds to build 20 master devices to be sent to healthcare professionals around the world. These machines will provide the template for mass replication in each country.
The funds will also go towards the man-power needed to clear medical and regulatory approvals: hiring the expertise of healthcare professionals, lawyers
and local authorities.