Senegal: promoting broader access to medical oxygen with Access Oxygen

Can you give us an overview of the Access Oxygen project?

Abdoulahi Sarr.: Access Oxygen is one of the Group's Inclusive Business projects that aims to promote and expand access to a comprehensive, sustainable medical oxygen solution for small healthcare centers in Senegal. It facilitates local treatment of health emergencies such as acute asthma, fetal distress, respiratory failure and many other pathologies. This avoids transferring patients to regional hospitals, which are often several kilometers away and accessed via dangerous transportation modes.

Marie-Paule Battista: We work every day to improve our solution so that it is more affordable for the Senegalese people so we can widen our health and social impact.

What does your day-to-day work consist of?

M-P.B..: I train midwives and nurses to use our kit. It includes an oxygen concentrator, a pulse oximeter, an oxygen tank and a very helpful digital app that assists them in caring for patients.

作为.: Being an "intrapreneur" in this region requires that you be familiar with and have a firm grasp on the region's health ecosystem to build an offer that is suited to the small healthcare facilities. Our solution includes a comprehensive kit, as well as a preventive and corrective maintenance system for the equipment, training for medical personnel and education for local communities. My customers call me regularly with practical questions and I call on them every three months to check that everything is working. Finally, to promote an oxygen culture to the local population, we periodically hold village meetings organized by the chief nurse focusing on how useful and important oxygen is to our health.

What makes this initiative innovative?

作为.：我们正在达到一个以前没有被本集团所涉及的新市场：金字塔底部的人口（世界各地的40亿人口每天赚到不到10美元）。我们突出了我们活动的健康和社会影响。这项研究与我们作为盈利目标同样重要。对于我们而言，客户是我们每天的首要任务，因为我们努力妥善照顾患者。

M-P.B.。：对于我的地区，我开发了基于赞助的资助模式：第一年由当地公司支付。我们发现，最耗时的阶段实际上是让医疗保健设施签署第一份合同。但是，我们已经看到，一旦他们实施我们的解决方案，他们就会续订合同。我们只是需要一种加速过程的方法

你最喜欢的工作是什么？

作为：在整个塞内加尔旅行，感觉我正在帮助人民和与兴奋的从业人员合作，为所有人推进健康。和听到对访问氧气感到满意的客户的自发一手账户！

M-P.B..: Like Abdoulahi, what I like is exploring Senegal each day and each day providing a real service to small healthcare facilities and, therefore, to the patients who need it. Each sales call is like an adventure. And I am discovering a new culture that I did not know before.

How do you complement each other?

作为。：Marie-Paule，我做一个好团队。她很有用沟通工具。在我最后，我带她的技术支持。我们互相交谈，我们每个人都分享我们的想法和反馈。我们的团队合作正在偿还：我们被医疗专业人员和患者以及地面上的公共机构和国际组织视为塞内加尔卫生系统的完全成熟的参与者。这是一个很好的奖励！