Latest / WHAT I'VE LEARNT / What I've Learnt - Every Breath Counts Coalition
Transcript
- 0:02SPEAKER_00: It's hard to imagine not being able to breathe, suffocating slowly because your doctor or clinic has actually run out of oxygen.
- 0:09SPEAKER_00: That's the horrific reality facing many thousands of children and adults dying from pneumonia.
- 0:15SPEAKER_00: Pneumonia is the single largest killer of children worldwide, and with the outbreak of COVID-19, the access to oxygen crisis has worsened.
- 0:25SPEAKER_00: Every 30 seconds a child dies from pneumonia, and unless we act now, a further 168,000 children under five are anticipated to die from COVID-19 by 2022.
- 0:39SPEAKER_00: Speaking from her home base in New York, feisty and focused mother of three, Leith Greenslade, is president of the Every Breath Counts Organization, a coalition of UN agencies, businesses, donors, and NGOs committed to supporting governments in countries with some of the highest burdens of pneumonia.
- 1:00SPEAKER_00: The 48 members provide support to close the critical gaps in pneumonia prevention, diagnosis and treatment, which could save hundreds, if not thousands, of pneumonia deaths each year.
- 1:13SPEAKER_00: They're leading an ambitious goal to reduce the number of children and adults dying from pneumonia.
- 1:19SPEAKER_00: COVID-19 could add 1.9 million to the death toll this year.
- 1:23SPEAKER_00: This would increase all caused pneumonia deaths by more than 75%.
- 1:28SPEAKER_00: Lee says, everything I do is to correct life's lottery.
- 1:33SPEAKER_00: So everyone, no matter their childhood birthplace, everyone is fundamentally equal and has the same potential as anybody else.
- 1:42SPEAKER_00: COVID-19 has alerted governments to the dangers of respiratory infections like pneumonia and to the need to build strong health systems so they can effectively diagnose and treat these conditions with a key focus on vulnerable populations.
- 2:07SPEAKER_00: It's so great to have you here to discuss this critical issue.
- 2:11SPEAKER_00: Clearly, the COVID pandemic has brought this major issue into the foreground, but you and your team have been working on this for a decade.
- 2:20SPEAKER_00: Talk to me a bit about that.
- 2:22SPEAKER_01: Well, hi Deb.
- 2:23SPEAKER_01: It's great to be with you from New York.
- 2:27SPEAKER_01: We have been uh working away for over a decade on something that prior to COVID was almost completely neglected by global health leaders in every country, really.
- 2:39SPEAKER_01: And that's that pneumonia has been killing millions of people for the longest time.
- 2:45SPEAKER_01: But we just weren't focusing on pneumonia.
- 2:47SPEAKER_01: And there's many other important um diseases that the world was focused on, like HIV AIDS and malaria, um TB, uh, all very important.
- 2:57SPEAKER_01: Um, but pneumonia was our big blind spot.
- 3:00SPEAKER_01: For some reason, we didn't have our eyes on it, and then COVID hit, which is which is a viral respiratory infection, causing a whole lot of pneumonia amongst adults.
- 3:11SPEAKER_01: So we felt like we'd been warning from the wilderness about this for a very long time, and then it hits, and now the world sees how devastating an epidemic, pandemic of respiratory infection can be.
- 3:26SPEAKER_01: Children have been suffering for a very long time with pneumonia, and now adults are being hit.
- 3:32SPEAKER_01: And it strikes me as do we really only pay attention to things when they hit adults?
- 3:39SPEAKER_01: Why did we forget and neglect the leading killer of children for so long?
- 3:45SPEAKER_00: It's interesting.
- 3:46SPEAKER_00: Can you explain to us is it actually the shortage of oxygen available, or is it about the inability to deliver the oxygen?
- 3:56SPEAKER_00: So can you just explain to us the the logistics of the shortage and so what actually happens when um when somebody has pneumonia?
- 4:05SPEAKER_00: What you're saying from what I'm speaking to you briefly, um if you have access to oxygen, it can help with the both breathing and also the ability to treat the pneumonia.
- 4:17SPEAKER_00: But if you have a shortage, that's a problem.
- 4:20SPEAKER_00: Can you just just give us a little um um explanation on that?
- 4:24SPEAKER_01: So there are two kinds of, well, there's more than two, but there are two major ways you can you can get pneumonia, bacterial and viral.
- 4:30SPEAKER_01: And COVID-19 is a viral pneumonia.
- 4:32SPEAKER_01: Now, with bacterial pneumonia, antibiotics will work, but with viral pneumonia, it's a virus.
- 4:37SPEAKER_01: Antibiotics are not effective, so you have to have other treatments.
- 4:41SPEAKER_01: And one of the most effective treatments is oxygen.
- 4:44SPEAKER_01: Not everybody that gets pneumonia, whether it's from COVID or another cause, needs oxygen, but many do.
- 4:52SPEAKER_01: And it's the difference between life and death for many people with severe um COVID and other forms of pneumonia.
- 5:00SPEAKER_01: So oxygen is an abundant resource, right?
- 5:02SPEAKER_01: We breathe it every day.
- 5:03SPEAKER_01: So you think, how can there be an oxygen shortage?
- 5:05SPEAKER_01: It's all around.
- 5:06SPEAKER_01: Exactly, yes.
- 5:07SPEAKER_01: Um that's true.
- 5:10SPEAKER_01: There should never be a shortage of oxygen, it's in abundance.
- 5:14SPEAKER_01: Um, but to make it medical grade, certain things need to be done to it.
- 5:19SPEAKER_01: You need certain machines to take in the air we breathe and turn it into pure, more pure medical-grade oxygen.
- 5:26SPEAKER_01: And that's where things break down because in many countries they don't have the technologies, the machines, the oxygen plants, um, to generate medical-grade oxygen.
- 5:39SPEAKER_01: And then they don't have the staff, the healthcare staff in the hospitals who know how to work with oxygen.
- 5:45SPEAKER_01: It can be quite complicated.
- 5:47SPEAKER_01: You've probably seen uh patients with COVID being intubated on those mechanical ventilators.
- 5:53SPEAKER_01: That's a very invasive, dangerous procedure.
- 5:57SPEAKER_01: So you need a certain level of um of skill, and a lot of countries don't have the machines or the people to um to provide oxygen.
- 6:06SPEAKER_01: And you say, well, why is that?
- 6:08SPEAKER_01: And that really is because of a lack of prioritization by their own governments and by global health organizations who are there to support governments who can't pay for these things.
- 6:20SPEAKER_01: So both sides have let people down.
- 6:22SPEAKER_01: And that's why when you read any media today, you see these horror stories of people dying for lack of oxygen or family members running all over towns looking for cylinders to bring home.
- 6:33SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's a lot of suffering going on right now across, particularly across the global south, uh, related to oxygen shortages.
- 6:43SPEAKER_00: So everyone at the moment, as you mentioned, is in overload or in crisis.
- 6:48SPEAKER_00: In every country, they're dealing with this COVID crisis.
- 6:51SPEAKER_00: Um, so everyone's trying to recalibrate and trying to adapt to this sort of new world that that really is quite confronting.
- 7:00SPEAKER_00: Do you think you have their attention now with the issue of oxygen shortages and the crisis, the pneumonia crisis, or is it getting blurred by by all the other complexity around COVID?
- 7:16SPEAKER_01: Um I want to wait a few days, Deb.
- 7:18SPEAKER_01: We're expecting a big announcement on oxygen any day from the global health leaders.
- 7:23SPEAKER_01: So the World Health Organization and UNICEF and the Global Fund and the World Bank, all of these groups, the Welcome Trusts, these big powerful groups that run Global Health.
- 7:33SPEAKER_01: We're expecting an announcement in a few days.
- 7:35SPEAKER_01: So let's so I'll have to get back to you on that.
- 7:38SPEAKER_01: But we certainly have shouted loudly.
- 7:41SPEAKER_01: Um, and our best friends in this have been the journalists.
- 7:45SPEAKER_01: And if you read some of these stories, I would challenge anyone not to be heartbroken by what's happening out there.
- 7:52SPEAKER_01: But unfortunately, there's this huge disconnect in our world between the elites and the way most people live their lives.
- 8:01SPEAKER_01: Inequality is a problem, I think, in every society.
- 8:04SPEAKER_01: And the people who have the power, they just don't see how people are living and suffering.
- 8:13SPEAKER_01: And it's been our job as a coalition to bring those stories right to their doorstep so they can't ignore them.
- 8:19SPEAKER_00: Well, that's why we're so happy to have you on the podcast, because really um it is such an interesting and and I suppose a crisis point um uh story, because really, as you say, there are so many hundreds of people who are struggling just to access oxygen, it's really hard to actually comprehend.
- 8:39SPEAKER_00: It it sounds dystopian.
- 8:42SPEAKER_00: It doesn't sound like, you know, in re it doesn't sound grounded in reality, except as you say, it really is.
- 8:49SPEAKER_00: So two questions for you.
- 8:50SPEAKER_00: One is can you give us some insight into what you um anticipate is to be the announcement, just conceptually, that you're hoping for from WHO?
- 9:01SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, um, there's a group of that we're hoping a group of them will come together and announce an emergency oxygen response for the worst affected countries.
- 9:10SPEAKER_01: So those countries where you see people lining up overnight for oxygen cylinders, where you see people dying for lack of oxygen, or the healthcare workers just pulling their hair out because they they don't have enough oxygen.
- 9:24SPEAKER_01: Um, we're hoping there would be a money to support uh emergency oxygen supplies to these countries just to get them over the hump of COVID.
- 9:33SPEAKER_01: You know, we're told this vaccine is coming and it is coming, but um, it may take longer than we would like to get to the poorest countries.
- 9:43SPEAKER_01: So while they're waiting for the vaccine, it's oxygen that's going to keep COVID patients alive, and they absolutely must have it.
- 9:51SPEAKER_01: So, our argument to their big powerful organizations the very least you can do while these countries wait for a vaccine is make sure they have enough oxygen so no COVID patient dies for lack of oxygen.
- 10:05SPEAKER_00: So, are you saying this boils down fundamentally to a funding issue?
- 10:10SPEAKER_00: That you need the governments and the organizations to fund the development of more medical-grade oxygen?
- 10:18SPEAKER_01: Yes, oxygen is actually very expensive.
- 10:21SPEAKER_01: Um, and countries, a lot of these country health systems uh don't have a lot of money.
- 10:26SPEAKER_01: They don't spend a lot on health, they don't have a lot to spend on government budgets.
- 10:32SPEAKER_01: Um, and oxygen is a very expensive commodity.
- 10:34SPEAKER_01: So, yes, they do need help financing oxygen.
- 10:37SPEAKER_01: They've told us they need help finance.
- 10:39SPEAKER_01: Those big oxygen plants that that many countries have um are expensive.
- 10:45SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about the worst affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the poorest countries.
- 10:52SPEAKER_00: The poorest countries who are usually and often hit the hardest.
- 10:56SPEAKER_00: Tell me a little bit about um raising awareness in the US and Europe and in the Western countries.
- 11:04SPEAKER_00: How's that going?
- 11:05SPEAKER_00: Are you actually getting any traction on that?
- 11:07SPEAKER_00: Obviously, the WHO announcement hopefully will reflect that.
- 11:11SPEAKER_00: But beyond that, are you getting people to understand now, particularly with COVID, has brought this issue very much into the foreground.
- 11:21SPEAKER_01: You know, it's a bit of a sad fact.
- 11:22SPEAKER_01: It wasn't until Californian hospitals nearly ran out of oxygen.
- 11:27SPEAKER_01: There was some stories out of LA and other Californian COVID hotspots.
- 11:32SPEAKER_01: They were running out of oxygen.
- 11:33SPEAKER_01: And that's when often, that's what it takes often is something on your own back door to get the attention of that got the attention of US leaders.
- 11:42SPEAKER_01: Um, European leaders as well, you know, Italy.
- 11:47SPEAKER_01: There were some terrible stories out of Italy running out of oxygen.
- 11:50SPEAKER_01: When they start popping up, you can see them paying attention.
- 11:54SPEAKER_01: Um, but but they haven't been as sensitive as I would have liked to the stories coming out of Africa and Asia and Latin America.
- 12:02SPEAKER_01: And I still do scratch my head about that.
- 12:05SPEAKER_01: Why is it?
- 12:06SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, if I put my gender hat on, which I love to do, global health is still run by men.
- 12:15SPEAKER_01: Um and they've been very focused on high-tech solutions to COVID-19, you know, the new vaccine, very sophisticated diagnostic tools, new therapeutics, new medicines.
- 12:30SPEAKER_01: When we've had oxygen out there, which is a known, which is effective but pretty garden variety medical intervention, and they overlook it and go straight to the sophisticated, high-tech, shiny solution.
- 12:44SPEAKER_01: Um, sometimes I feel like if there were more women in the mix, you'd get a more practical response.
- 12:49SPEAKER_01: It was very clear from the beginning to me that it was oxygen that was going to be the most urgent need in the short term in the in the poor communities.
- 12:57SPEAKER_01: Um they sort of miss what's right in front of them.
- 13:02SPEAKER_01: Very interesting.
- 13:03SPEAKER_01: This is another case of that, I think.
- 13:05SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, it is interesting what you're saying.
- 13:08SPEAKER_00: I mean, the coalition that you're working with, are there many women involved?
- 13:12SPEAKER_00: I know that you're obviously quite a trailblazer in this area, but are you finding that you're getting any resonance with and are you getting female representation on the as part of this coalition?
- 13:24SPEAKER_00: Or are you one of the few?
- 13:26SPEAKER_01: No, it's a personal mission of mine to uh to work and elevate women wherever I I find them, particularly women from low and middle-income countries.
- 13:36SPEAKER_01: It's just a decision I made several years ago that every opportunity I got to elevate a woman, I would take it.
- 13:44SPEAKER_01: So our coalition has a huge number of women, very active, um, particularly in NGOs.
- 13:49SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of women working in non-government organizations, very there's a lot of women doctors, nurses, health professionals, um, and they're fantastic and they're the heart and soul of our coalition.
- 14:03SPEAKER_01: It's just that when you get to the top positions, the people running, you know, the big powerful organizations, that's where you start to see, you know, the women are not there.
- 14:12SPEAKER_01: And I hope that changes one day.
- 14:14SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so do I.
- 14:15SPEAKER_00: It seems that when we're involved, we certainly have a positive impact, is my impression.
- 14:20SPEAKER_00: And that goes across across the board, literally.
- 14:23SPEAKER_00: Um, so in terms of raising awareness, what can we do?
- 14:29SPEAKER_00: Um, your average person who wants to get involved and who wants to help uh uh, I suppose, improve awareness, but also actually, what can we do to take action and get this back on the agenda in the way that you're describing?
- 14:46SPEAKER_00: Because it's such an important issue.
- 14:48SPEAKER_01: There's so much now that that individuals can do.
- 14:51SPEAKER_01: I'm a huge believer in using social media as a very sharp advocacy tool.
- 14:56SPEAKER_01: So most of the leaders that I'm talking about, they have personal Twitter handles and they actually use them.
- 15:01SPEAKER_01: So we do a lot of direct, uh aggressive social media advocacy straight to the individuals whose mind we're trying to change, whether it's the head of the World Health Organization, the head of the World Bank, the uh the Prime Minister of Britain, Boris Johnson, he was saved by oxygen.
- 15:20SPEAKER_01: You know, he was he was very sick, and it was oxygen that saved him, and he acknowledged that when he got out of hospital.
- 15:26SPEAKER_01: Um, so we find someone like that, we go straight to them to try and um enlist them in our mission.
- 15:30SPEAKER_01: So I would encourage all of your listeners, I'm sure many of them active on social media, whatever you like, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, whatever you use.
- 15:38SPEAKER_01: Um, start to find out who are powers that be that need to be mobilized to change um levels of support for oxygen and tell them.
- 15:48SPEAKER_01: It can be as simple as tweeting or sharing some of the media stories coming out of Latin America, Africa, and Asia, some of these very personal stories of suffering.
- 15:57SPEAKER_01: Share them around so that people uh you know can't ignore them.
- 16:03SPEAKER_01: So we're also, you know, the Australian government is very active in international circles.
- 16:08SPEAKER_01: Um, put pressure on your representative, on your prime minister, on the senators, um, that you expect Australia to do something about this issue.
- 16:17SPEAKER_01: Australia actually has a terrific reputation in global health.
- 16:20SPEAKER_01: You have some heavy hitters, um, academics and um and activists who have come out of Australia.
- 16:26SPEAKER_01: So I think um I'd love to see more activism from the Australian people on this access to oxygen during COVID-19.
- 16:35SPEAKER_00: So, do you anticipate that this um WHO announcement should it be in line with what you're hoping?
- 16:42SPEAKER_00: Do you see that as a game changer in terms of moving this to the top of everybody's agenda?
- 16:50SPEAKER_00: Do you see that as, you know?
- 16:52SPEAKER_01: Right, I don't think it'll go to the top.
- 16:54SPEAKER_01: I think the vaccine is still very much the the number one priority of the global health and political leaders.
- 17:02SPEAKER_01: And I understand why.
- 17:04SPEAKER_01: Um, but we're having some hiccups with the vaccine, you know, at the at the moment.
- 17:08SPEAKER_01: Um, all these variants, these new variants are really challenging some of the the power of the vaccine.
- 17:14SPEAKER_01: So the vaccine's priority number one, and I get that, but it's not, it goes back to my gender point.
- 17:19SPEAKER_01: It's not like you can just do one thing at a time.
- 17:22SPEAKER_01: You can do more than one thing.
- 17:25SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
- 17:26SPEAKER_01: Multiple We're so good at that, aren't we?
- 17:31SPEAKER_01: So we are so so good at that.
- 17:34SPEAKER_01: I mean, two things are nothing, like seven things at a time, and you the eight things it's or anything's possible if you're if you're uh if you're a mother of so many children.
- 17:45SPEAKER_01: Um I'd love to see I'd love to see uh I'd love to see oxygen just in their top three lists of priorities, I would feel like we had success.
- 17:55SPEAKER_00: Just on that note, um you're an you know you're an interesting um example or exemplification of a multitasker.
- 18:04SPEAKER_00: You're a mother of three, you're living, you're an Aussie living in New York, which is an interesting time to be there right now.
- 18:10SPEAKER_00: What are you finding the greatest challenges?
- 18:12SPEAKER_00: Um, because you're in lockdown in effect, and you've got, you know, and you're you're also driving this very important agenda.
- 18:20SPEAKER_00: What for you is the greatest challenge?
- 18:23SPEAKER_01: The the greatest challenge is feeling so um, although we're connected by technology, I feel very disconnected from the real world.
- 18:32SPEAKER_01: Most of my work now is through a machine.
- 18:35SPEAKER_01: And there are people that on the other side, like you're on the other side now, I see you, but there's a disconnection that is very disturbing after so many months.
- 18:45SPEAKER_01: You know, we've been locked up here since March, almost 12 months.
- 18:48SPEAKER_01: We've been locked up in an apartment in the middle of New York City.
- 18:53SPEAKER_01: Um, and the human spirit is strong, it's really strong.
- 18:58SPEAKER_01: I but still you feel like part of your humanity is being chipped away at.
- 19:04SPEAKER_01: I don't feel as close to people.
- 19:06SPEAKER_01: Um, and I worry about the long-term implications of that, whether we'll come back together after the pen, two things will happen.
- 19:13SPEAKER_01: We'll either rush into each other's arms.
- 19:16SPEAKER_01: That's happening very you know, there'll be this huge explosion of human creativity and or we'll we'll sort of we'll maintain this distance um and interact more with our machines than each other.
- 19:29SPEAKER_01: I'm worried about that.
- 19:30SPEAKER_00: Well, it's interesting you reflect on that because in Australia, and I'm I mean I'm in Melbourne, um, we definitely are, I would say, running into each other's arms and being creative.
- 19:40SPEAKER_00: That's the it's really interesting.
- 19:41SPEAKER_00: You can't smash it out of humanity.
- 19:43SPEAKER_00: It's actually just if there's any comfort there, the sun's out here because it's summer, and you know, people are down at the beach, there's a sense that we're actually coming out.
- 19:54SPEAKER_00: It's not to say that we're still being vigilant and it's still challenging, but if if there's any comfort for you, what I've observed is that everybody just literally is getting out, you know, the artists are outperforming.
- 20:09SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm going to a concert at the Sydney Mine Music Bowl.
- 20:13SPEAKER_00: Remember that good old uh chestnut?
- 20:16SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, so people are um particularly driven actually by a lot of the artists, uh particularly many of whom I've interviewed, there's a really big push to reconnect and to do exactly what you described as your number one ideal priority, which is run back into each other's arms, because at the end of the day, uh it's just the human condition to want to do that.
- 20:43SPEAKER_00: So while I feel extremely empathetic for your uh position, because we had three, we had a good four months here in lockdown, not dissimilar.
- 20:53SPEAKER_00: However, it is interesting because New York apartments were not designed for people, and somebody was saying this yesterday, actually, I was interviewing them, and they said New York apartments were not designed for people to live in them all the time.
- 21:06SPEAKER_00: The nature of New York is live in it, but actually be out every day at the theater, you know, um going to going to restaurants, walking everywhere.
- 21:17SPEAKER_00: So I think that's an interesting, um particularly difficult difficult challenge for when you're and you're an Aussie.
- 21:25SPEAKER_00: So you're used to gardens and being out.
- 21:27SPEAKER_00: And so I think that's also something that is probably making life in New York particularly taxing for um for anyone.
- 21:37SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the older I get, I miss my miss my garden.
- 21:40SPEAKER_01: One day maybe I'll have have a garden again, but but for the moment, uh I think we'll have maybe two or three more months of this, and then we'll they tell us by summer we'll start to come out.
- 21:52SPEAKER_00: Um and I'm and we do have Central Park, let's be honest.
- 21:55SPEAKER_00: You have Central Park normally, which is quite beautiful.
- 22:00SPEAKER_00: That's how I think most New Yorkers get through.
- 22:03SPEAKER_01: That's their garden.
- 22:03SPEAKER_01: That's my garden, right?
- 22:06SPEAKER_00: And what a garden it is.
- 22:08unknown: Right.
- 22:09SPEAKER_00: Um, well, Leith, I just want to thank you so much for your time today.
- 22:13SPEAKER_00: It's been really informative, and I'd like to stay in touch with you.
- 22:17SPEAKER_00: And as you said, you know, the journalists and the media really have a very powerful role.
- 22:22SPEAKER_00: And I'm hoping that in my role as a journalist, that I can shine light on this issue.
- 22:29SPEAKER_00: And I appreciate you being in touch with me and and really bringing it to our attention.
- 22:34SPEAKER_00: And please let us know that uh hopefully we'll see it in the media, the um the decision of the WHO to fund and support um the access to oxygen for more people.
- 22:48SPEAKER_01: My pleasure, and thank you for shining a light onto this onto this really important issue, Deb.
- 22:53SPEAKER_01: Another great journalist standing up for what's well, thank you, Leif.
- 22:58SPEAKER_00: And we're both mothers of three.
- 23:00SPEAKER_00: So there you go.
- 23:01SPEAKER_00: Look what we can do when we multitask.
- 23:05SPEAKER_01: Take care, bye, Leith.
- 23:07SPEAKER_01: All right, you too.
- 23:08SPEAKER_01: See you later.
- 23:08SPEAKER_01: Bye-bye.
- 23:09SPEAKER_01: Bye.
- 23:16SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening.
- 23:18SPEAKER_00: The What I've Learned podcast will now be coming to you weekly with new episodes released every Tuesday.
- 23:25SPEAKER_00: I'm blessed to have so many wonderful guests coming on the show.
- 23:28SPEAKER_00: So check out my What I've Learned Instagram for updates.
- 23:31SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, stay tuned, kind, and curious.
- 23:34SPEAKER_00: Love deck.