NEW YORK, November 12, 2026 — A new US$18.3 million investment from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust is expected to bring reliable medical oxygen within reach of an estimated 64 million people in Ethiopia and Ghana, strengthening the health systems that treat patients with pneumonia and support newborn, maternal, emergency, and surgical care.
Through two grants to CHAI, Helmsley is working with the Ministries of Health to build on Ethiopia’s experience and to apply its lessons in underserved regions of Ghana. Announced on World Pneumonia Day, the grants signal a long-term investment in infrastructure, workforce, and delivery systems required to make medical oxygen available when and where patients need it.
In Ethiopia, a US$8.9 million three-year grant builds on Helmsley’s earlier work, that, together with other donors, has already connected 888 health facilities to 23 oxygen plants. Between 2023 and 2026, the share of supported facilities providing oxygen therapy rose from 59 percent to 100 percent, and the share of hypoxemic patients receiving oxygen rose from 79 percent to 99 percent. This new investment will expand oxygen access to over 1,200 health facilities, served by 61 oxygen plants, covering almost half of Ethiopia’s public health facilities and reaching an estimated 60 million people.
In Ghana, a US$9.4 million three-year grant will establish hub-and-spoke oxygen supply network for 270 health facilities across four underserved, hard-to-reach and high-burden regions: Bono, Bono East, Oti, and Savannah, reaching an estimated four million people.
“Medical oxygen is one of the most essential tools we have for treating lower respiratory infections, the dominant cause of deaths across most sub-Saharan African countries. Lack of access contributes to millions of preventable deaths around the globe,” said Walter Panzirer, a Trustee of the Helmsley Charitable Trust. “We are investing to strengthen and expand the medical oxygen ecosystems in Ethiopia and Ghana so that this lifesaving product will be available to everyone who needs it.”
In Ghana, initial assessments led by the Ghana Health Service, with support from CHAI and funding from Helmsley, have found that many facilities do not produce their own oxygen and depend on cylinders brought in over long distances, making supply costly and unreliable.
The hub-and-spoke model, employed by both Ethiopia and Ghana, works to solve this problem. A hospital with its own oxygen plant is the hub, and the smaller facilities around it are the spokes it supplies, so none must rely on cylinders brought in from far away. That shortens supply routes and lowers costs. In Ethiopia it has helped keep oxygen available where patients need it. Working with the Ghana Health Service and regional health directorates, CHAI will apply those lessons to design networks for each region.
“Medical oxygen works only when every part of the system works: production, distribution, trained staff, maintenance, data, and financing. These grants back government-led systems that serve every patient who needs oxygen and that keep running long after the grants end,” said Zach Katz, Vice President of Child Health, CHAI.
The grants are designed to leave behind systems that governments own and can sustain, with revenue retention in Ethiopia and cost recovery at hub facilities in Ghana keeping oxygen services running after the grants end.
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About The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust aspires to improve lives by supporting exceptional efforts in the U.S. and around the world in health and select place-based initiatives. Since beginning active grantmaking in 2008, Helmsley has committed more than $4.9 billion for a wide range of charitable purposes, including more than $456 million to help ensure the well-being of children and families in remote communities in sub-Saharan Africa. For more information on Helmsley and its programs, visit helmsleytrust.org
About the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI)
The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to saving lives and improving health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries by enabling the government and private sector to strengthen and sustain quality health systems. For more information, please visit: www.clintonhealthaccess.org
