Oxygen is a basic human need. Supplemental oxygen is the mainstay of the management of patients with COVID-19 and of other severe acute respiratory tract infections (SARI). Particularly in low- and middle-income countries, SARIs are a major cause of mortality and morbidity. The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic revealed two uncomfortable truths:
- Medical oxygen is a scarce resource, particularly in times of extraordinary need, and global access to oxygen is inequitable.
- Far too many questions regarding the optimal delivery and use of medical oxygen remain unanswered, leading to worse outcomes for patients.
WHO is now partnering with interested global acute care clinical trials networks, hospitals, organizations, and other interested investigators to form the WHO Global O2ptimization of respiratory support collaboration. This work is building on the international effort that conducted the WHO O2CoV2 study, an observational study of oxygen requirements and approaches to respiratory support in patients with COVID-19 in LMICs.
This research collaboration will study the optimal approaches to delivering oxygen and providing respiratory support for patients with SARI and hypoxaemic respiratory failure across the globe, in a range of resourced settings. We are seeking expressions of interest from clinical trials networks, hospitals and other interested investigators to join us in this innovative clinical research programme.
The collaboration is being developed by WHO and an international group of investigators. However, its final shape will reflect the priorities of its partners. We encourage research networks and clinical institutions from LMICs to register their interest as research questions from these settings will be a priority.
The collaboration is based upon several core principles:
- Ownership of the collaboration will be distributed, and primary authorship will be attributed to the group, rather than to individuals.
- Research governance and leadership will ensure equity, diversity and inclusion, and will include participants from all WHO regions.
- Research questions will be established through a prioritization process involving multiple stakeholders, including patients and families, and grouped within specific domains. It is expected that high-priority research questions will be those relevant to the care of patients in resource-constrained settings where the burden of disease is the highest.
- Investigators will be encouraged to recruit to research questions most relevant to their local needs.
- The programme will strive to ensure maximal levels of both regional autonomy and global collaboration.
- A globally federated research platform will link existing and yet to be developed randomized clinical trials.
- The programme will seek funding support from a consortium of funders.
If you are interested in learning more, and potentially, in being a part of this collaborative programme, please complete the following expression of interest.
Register expression of interest here:
For further information, please contact resp_support_collab@who.int