Lifebox Australia & New Zealand is a joint, regional project developed to ensure access to life-saving monitoring during surgery, through the purchasing and distribution of pulse oximeters to hospitals across the Asia Pacific region. The project also focuses on training local personnel in the use and maintenance of the pulse oximeters. This project, building on the work of the Lifebox Foundation in the UK and US, enables supporters in Australia and New Zealand to make tax-deductible donations directly to this work, and for hospitals across the region to request pulse oximeters and support in their use.
“Lifebox pulse oximeters are making a difference. When we did the training, it was not only important for the anaesthesia providers, but now the surgeons, nurses and other people in the medical field realize the necessity of monitoring and oxygen”
– Dr Thang, President of the Vietnam Society of Anaesthesiologists.
Lifebox was founded as a joint initiative of the World Federation of Anaesthesiologists, the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland and the Harvard School of Public Health. The Foundation is a registered charity in Great Britain. In Australasia, the projects have, to date, coordinated through the Australian Society of Anaesthetists (ASA) and the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, with contributions from the New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists (ASA).
The broad focus of Lifebox is the provision of pulse oximeters with affordable and sustainable probes, into hospitals in developing countries, as part of a broader objective of ensuring safe surgery.
A pulse oximeter is the most important monitoring tool in modern anaesthesia practice. It is a non-invasive medical device that checks the level of oxygen in a patient’s bloodstream and sounds an alarm as soon as it detects the slightest unsafe change.
A functioning pulse oximeter is item # 4 on the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist. They are delivered to hospitals and practitioners who require them, along with the educational material to train users. Funds raised contribute to the purchase and distribution of pulse oximeters, training of local medical providers.
Lifebox Australia & New Zealand is a joint project of the Lifebox Foundation, the Australia and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA), the Australian Society of Anaesthetists (ASA), Interplast Australia & New Zealand (Interplast) and the New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists (NZSA).