Launching the next phase of Oxygen CoLab and Vaccine Data CoLab
In March 2020, the COVIDaction partnership was established. Funded by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the aim of the collective was to build a technology and innovation pipeline to support action related to the COVID-19 pandemic across a number of key thematic areas.
After the first twelve months, work in two of those thematic areas had crystallised into more wide-reaching projects: Vaccine Data and Oxygen CoLabs.
To understand and limit the spread of COVID-19, the work within COVIDaction’s data challenge initially focused on providing data for evidence-driven policy decisions for Ministries of Health, National Statistics Offices and others. This evolved as COVID-19 efforts shifted from detection and prevention to vaccine distribution; and in April of 2021 the Vaccine Data CoLab was created to support decision-makers in low- and middle-income countries to close data gaps in vaccine rollouts and provide them with the tools required for equitable, transparent, and efficient vaccine delivery.
At the same time, to make oxygen more universally available, the work pivoted from finding proven, frugal innovations in ventilator design, to understanding how access to medical-grade oxygen in low- and middle-income countries could be improved. Since its inception, the Oxygen CoLab has brought together manufacturers, engineers, innovators, hackers and backers to accelerate the development of robust oxygen concentrators in these low-resource settings.
Extending the pathway of what’s possible — beyond scaling promising innovations, there is now the potential to scale new systemic approaches for better futures
Of course, the pandemic is not over. But as the world shifts its focus from ‘emergency response’ towards building resilience for the future, we also have to shift our areas of focus.
With funding provided by the FCDO, the Oxygen and Vaccine Data CoLabs are moving into their next phases, building on the advances already made and scaling their ambitions and their scope.
To better support this next phase, the COVIDaction programme will be retired and the two CoLabs will be hosted by the Better Futures CoLab platform. Oxygen and Vaccine Data CoLabs will be delivered by a consortium including Brink and DT Global, and each CoLab will have their own constellation of strategic partners, experts and collaborators to make change stick.
The Oxygen CoLab: From designing fit-for-purpose technologies to hacking the market for oxygen access
Since December 2020 the CoLab has focused on innovating oxygen concentrators, which have a high rate of failure in low resource settings.
As well as bringing together specialists to explore the causes of oxygen concentrator breakdowns and understand the innovations required to solve them, the CoLab has connected innovators and experts to understand how a fit-for-purpose oxygen concentrator could be brought to market.
Today, innovators are providing life-saving oxygen in Tanzania and India in areas where it was previously unavailable, product development has been catalysed on promising oxygen concentrators and the pace of work towards an industry-validated Target Product Profile (TPP) has been greatly accelerated.
Our next goal is to accelerate sustainable access to fit-for-purpose oxygen concentrators in underserved health centres and hospitals.
We’re doing this by funding innovators as they develop and test their ideas, catalysing market traction through funding, coaching and in-country advocacy, and supporting a local and global conversation about oxygen provision by convening and hosting networks of experts across the sector.
Read more about the next phase of the Oxygen CoLab’s work here.
Vaccine Data CoLab: From unshackling the data to using it to create rich insights
When it comes to stimulating vaccine demand in under-immunised and vulnerable communities, reliable and real-time data can have a huge impact. The Vaccine Data CoLab was established to make hyperlocal data accessible so that on-the-ground decisions on improving vaccine uptake could be made quickly and with confidence.
Over the past year the CoLab has built crucial bridges between countries’ data needs, existing data systems and appropriate technologies, to create what we call ‘precision public health’.
We have convened global vaccine research and data partners to avoid costly duplication of effort, turned research into action on the ground across 18 countries, supported governments and local partners in the use of geographic information systems, developed data dashboards for use in designing better real-time interventions, and co-designed and developed COVID-19 digital vaccination certificates.
Now, as the pandemic enters a new stage, our challenge has shifted to how hyperlocal data can be applied to generate demand in under vaccinated populations so that targeted vaccine delivery and behaviour change programmes can be designed.
To do this, we’re running in-depth, data-driven experiments in regions with low vaccine uptake to understand vaccine hesitancy and address issues such as matching of vaccine supply and demand as well as insights and impact tracking. In parallel we’re providing support for the Hygiene & Behaviour Change Coalition (HBCC2) and FCDO’s C-19 Behaviour Change Forum across 18 countries in Africa and Asia.
Find out more about the Vaccine Data CoLab here.
Get in touch with us if you’d like to know more about our CoLabs or you’d like to become involved: hello@makingbetterfutures.org
For regular updates on our work follow Better Futures CoLab on Twitter: @FuturesCoLab
