Why Children Are Dying When We Know How to Save Them
In Northern Nigeria, a child is admitted to hospital with pneumonia every 3 minutes. Without oxygen, 1 in 5 will die. Most deaths are preventable—if hospitals can detect low oxygen levels and deliver treatment.
How We Started
The Problem Was Solvable
In 2024, Leonie Falk visited hospitals across Gombe State and saw the same pattern: pediatric wards filled with children struggling to breathe, but no systematic way to detect which ones had dangerously low oxygen levels. Pulse oximeters sat broken in storage. Oxygen concentrators, when present, often didn't work because no one had been trained to maintain them.
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The tragedy wasn't scarcity—it was dysfunction. Most hospitals had received oxygen equipment through various programs over the years. But without protocols for actually using the equipment, training healthcare workers to recognize hypoxemia, and systems for maintenance, children kept dying.
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Leonie recognized that the solution wasn't complex: equip facilities with working pulse oximeters, train nurses to use them systematically, and ensure oxygen delivery systems actually functioned. Then measure everything to prove it worked.
It wasn't about money or technology. It was about systems—training nurses to check oxygen levels and ensuring equipment actually worked." — Leonie Falk, Founder
First Patient Story
The Moment
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At State Specialist Hospital Gombe, a three-year-old with pneumonia arrived at the pediatric ward. The nurse immediately checked oxygen saturation with our newly installed pulse oximeter: 84% (normal is 95%+). The child received oxygen from the solar-powered concentrator. Her saturation climbed to 92% within an hour. She was discharged four days later.
Why It Mattered
That first patient represented a system that worked: a nurse knew to check, the oximeter functioned, the concentrator delivered oxygen, someone recorded data. This wasn't heroic medicine—it was normal, systematic care catching problems early.
Seven Months Later: The Data
of pediatric admissions
2.5% → 6.5%
facilities across Gombe State equipped
23
of detected cases received oxygen
92%
By September 2025, all 23 secondary hospitals treating children in Gombe had functioning pulse oximeters and oxygen systems. Detection rates tripled—not because hypoxemia became more common, but because nurses were finally checking systematically.
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More importantly, 92% of children with detected hypoxemia received oxygen therapy. The gap between detection and treatment nearly disappeared because concentrators worked and healthcare workers knew how to use them. This is evidence-based implementation.
Evidence-Based, Partnership Driven Approach
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Key principles:
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We build on robust clinical evidence (cite Nigerian hypoxaemia mortality research)
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We partner with government from day one (Hospital Services Management Board, Ministry of Health)
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We design for sustainability (training local teams, solar power, maintenance protocols)
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We measure rigorously (tracking detection rates, treatment rates, equipment functionality)
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We scale responsibly (perfect the model in one state before expanding)
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Why this matters:
Many global health interventions fail because they bypass government systems or create dependency on external support. We're building capacity that will outlast our involvement.
