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Bi-Weekly Press Briefing: Ukraine: Oxygen Device For Premature Babies UNITAID/WHO
Premature babies can now be supported in Ukraine with new oxygen machines that work without electricity. The development of the devices was financed by Unitaid, a Geneva based global health aid agency which is committed to supplying poorer countries with medicines and other health products. The devices are currently being manufactured in Kenya.
“Global health agency Unitaid through its partner Vayu Global Health, has provided 220 bubble nasal continuous positive airway pressure (bCPAP) devices and 125 oxygen blender systems to supply infants with the breathing support and oxygen therapy that they need », said Hervé Verhoosel, Unitaid’s spokesperson today at a press briefing at the United Nations in Geneva..
Bubble CPAP is a non-invasive way of ventilating newborns who are struggling to breathe. Oxygen blenders prevent eye, lung, and brain damage while giving babies pure oxygen.
The conflict in Ukraine has seen many hospitals damaged or destroyed, and supply chains have been disrupted. This puts thousands of newborns at high-risk of disability or death from a lack of access to oxygen, necessary equipment, and essential treatment.
“The war increases levels of stress in pregnant women which leads to an increase in the number of premature births reported, up to three times more than before the war, depending on the hospital that we are talking with », said Hervé Verhoosel, Unitaid’s spokesperson. “Babies born prematurely are more likely to develop respiratory, neurological and digestive complications, conditions that often require oxygen for treatment.”
The devices are now available in 25 facilities across Ukraine, of which 17 are perinatal centers. Unitaid has provided funding to support Vayu’s bCPAP system through engineering, manufacture and approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The products are manufactured at the cost of 500,- USD each.
“The novel ultra low-cost, portable, electricity-free device, which was granted FDA Emergency Use Authorization to help in the fight against COVID-19 allows for precious delivery of oxygen concentration, flow and pressure that can dramatically improve the outcomes of newborns and infants », said Herve Verhoosel. « These devices can be used worldwide but are particularly well-suited to use in humanitarian crises or low-resource settings.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has verified more than 400 attacks on hospitals in Ukraine since the beginning of the war in February.
“Every time there is an attack one of the things that happens, is the electricity doesn’t work », said Margaret Harris, Spokesperson for the World Health Organisation (WHO). “I went to a pediatric hospital in Zaporizhia which is, as you know, is very much close to the active fighting line, and they actually sleep every night in the basement, and the kids that they have got on ventilation etc., they have to move, or they try to move. So having very portable devices that can function offline is absolutely critical.”
The bCPAP system is in use in several African countries as well as Belgium and the United States.
Unitaid recalls today that additional funding will be critical to scale up the manufacture and supply of these lifesaving machines more widely.
-ends-
- Medium shot, UN Geneva flag alley.
- Wide shot, press room with panel of speakers.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Hervé Verhoosel, Spokesperson for UNITAID: “Global health agency UNITAID through its partner Vayu Global Health, has provided 220 bubble nasal continuous positive airway pressure (bCPAP) devices and 125 oxygen blender systems to supply infants with the breathing support and oxygen therapy that they need.”
- Medium shot, Monitor showing the speaker, journalists taking notes.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Hervé Verhoosel, Spokesperson for UNITAID: “The war increases levels of stress in pregnant women which leads to an increase in the number of premature births reported, up to three times more than before the war, depending on the hospital that we are talking with. Babies born prematurely are more likely to develop respiratory, neurological and digestive complications, conditions that often require oxygen for treatment.”
- Close-up, journalists taking notes.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Hervé Verhoosel, Spokesperson for UNITAID: “The novel ultra low-cost, portable, electricity-free device, which was granted FDA Emergency Use Authorization to help in the fight against COVID-19 allows for precious delivery of oxygen concentration, flow and pressure that can dramatically improve the outcomes of newborns and infants. These devices can be used worldwide, but are particularly well-suited to use in humanitarian crises or low-resource settings.”
- Medium shot, Monitor showing the speaker, journalists taking notes.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Margaret Harris, Spokesperson for the World Health Organisation (WHO): “Every time there is an attack, one of the things that happens, is the electricity doesn’t work. I went to a pediatric hospital in Zaporizhia which is, as you know, is very much close to the active fighting line, and they actually sleep every night in the basement, and the kids that they have got on ventilation etc., they have to move or they try to move. So having very portable devices that can function offline is absolutely critical.”
- Close-up, monitor showing the speaker.
- Medium shot, journalists and TV cameras on tripod.
- Medium shot, journalists taking notes.
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As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
ends