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Global Health Initiative

The Global Health Initiative seeks to coalesce research, applications, government and industry to develop and provide life-saving solutions worldwide

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The Optica Global Health Initiative (GHI)

Successful projects

In 2020, Stanford University and the Optica Foundation led a global health project to address the scarcity of PPE — and particularly N95 masks — and developed UV-C decontamination chambers that could be assembled with low-cost commercially available components and decontaminate several thousand masks per day in regions with limited resources. In partnership with Lifebox and the Optica Foundation, the team recruited and trained Optica student chapters worldwide to build decontamination chambers to spec and work with local hospitals to install and use them safely. As of January 2021, 30 grants were distributed to student chapters in countries such as Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Mexico and Ghana.

Oxygen was in extreme short supply and the Indian healthcare system was struggling during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Oxygen saturation meters (pulse oximeters) were also in short supply and are essential to preserving oxygen supply for those who need it most. The Global Health Initiative partnered with IndiaCovidSOS to distribute pulse oximeters in India via our network of dedicated volunteers and IndiaCovidSOS distribution channels. Oximeters were provided free of charge as part of a community-sharing program and we partnered with the largest ambulance network in India to deliver the units to underserved communities so that patients were able to be triaged efficiently.

We've just begun

Our work is in its early phase, and we are calling on the entire community to share their thoughts, time, and resources as we chart our future course. We invite you to join our strategic discussions and to participate as new efforts are launched to help people in need around the world.