Masimo announced at the World Congress of Anaesthesiologists (WCA) in Hong Kong that it has become the first Global Impact Partner of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA). The four-year partnership, “Safe Anaesthesia – ASAP” (Anesthesia Safety Action Plan), will initially identify one country with poor access to safe anesthesia, and will work toward implementing programs and training designed to improve anesthesia care and safe surgery outcomes.

In 2015, the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery reported that approximately 5 billion people – the majority of the world’s population – do not have access to safe, affordable anesthesia and surgical care, and estimated that 16.9 million die annually as a result. These deaths are attributable to a lack of infrastructure, essential monitoring equipment, and drugs, as well as a shortage of adequately trained healthcare workers.

As part of the first phase of the joint project between the WFSA and Masimo, a high burden country will be identified as the ASAP’s focus. Key to the project’s success will be bringing together all stakeholders, including the government, so that infrastructure gaps can be identified, needs assessed, and the ASAP implemented. Implementation will involve a combination of training courses and other educational materials, distribution of essential drugs, and installation of and training on medical equipment. Training, monitoring, and project assessment will be ongoing throughout the four years, with an emphasis on ensuring that the improvements are sustainable.

Lifebox, an NGO (not-for-profit, non-governmental organization) dedicated to improving safe surgery, will also be assisting with training support. Kristine Stave, chief operating officer of Lifebox, commented, “Lifebox works with colleagues on the front line of the global surgical safety crisis to support long-term improvement in the safety and quality of anesthesia care. We know firsthand the challenges of environment, equipment, education – and we also know the extraordinary capacity for positive change that the best partnerships can bring. We’re proud to be a part of this urgent and historic undertaking between the WFSA and Masimo, and to be delivering our shared goal of making anesthesia safer for millions of patients worldwide.”

WFSA has been uniting anesthesiologists globally for more than 60 years. With a network of hundreds of thousands of anesthesiologists in more than 150 countries, WFSA is well positioned to deliver programs that facilitate learning, and promote the highest standard of anesthesia care globally. Masimo, whose clinically leading SET pulse oximetry is used to monitor over 100 million patients across the world, has made a commitment to become a WFSA Global Impact Partner in 2016. Together, WFSA and Masimo created the ASAP action plan, which it is hoped will become a model for high burden countries to improve anesthesia care and safe surgery outcomes.

Dr. David Wilkinson, president of the WFSA, stated, “The WFSA is delighted to announce Masimo as our first Global Impact Partner. We work together to improve patient care and access to safe anesthesia around the world.”

Dr Adrian Gelb, chair of the WFSA’s Safety and Quality Committee and Professor of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Care at the UCSF School of Medicine, added, “It is essential that we make safe and affordable anesthesia and surgical care available to every patient in every country. Investment in national anesthesia plans, together with key stakeholders, will ensure that specific country needs are met most appropriately in order to make the biggest impact.”

“At Masimo, we believe that regardless of where you live or where you were born, access to quality healthcare that is dignified and safe – including safe, effective anesthesia and surgery – is a human right, not a privilege,” said Joe Kiani, founder and CEO of Masimo. “We are delighted to be the first partner with the WFSA in bringing much-needed help, with Safe Anaesthesia – ASAP, to areas of the world blighted by needless deaths.”

Kiani added “The new millennium goal is no longer to provide all of our people access to health care, but to provide all of our people access to health care that is systematically safe and dignified.”