1 June 2023
On 24 and 25 May, the closing conference of the AIRE project was held in Dakar. After 3 years of operational research, the project has demonstrated the importance of the pulse oximeter in identifying respiratory distress, one of the main causes of mortality in children under 5.
The aims of the project were to improve the management of sick children and reduce infant mortality by introducing the pulse oximeter as a diagnostic tool into the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) approach used in primary healthcare centres, in order to improve the identification of the most seriously ill children who need to be referred to hospital.
To meet these objectives, the project was divided into two phases:
Phase 1:
- Observation: this phase involved observing and understanding the health systems in place, the implementation of IMCI and the identification of serious cases.
Phase 2:
- Integration of the pulse oximeter: this phase enabled us to assess the impact of the pulse oximeter during IMCI consultations, the increase in referrals of serious cases and the increase in the number of lives saved thanks to the introduction of the OP.
- At the end of the project, a policy note on the introduction of the pulse oximeter in Niger was produced, as well as a capitalisation video.
The capitalisation video
