Researchers at the UAE’s Khalifa University are taking steps to meet the growing global demand for emergency ventilators due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
They have developed a prototype of the machine and are now engineering a production facility in Abu Dhabi to roll them out on a wider scale.
A team from the university’s Healthcare Engineering Innovation Centre (HEIC) are developing the ventilators.
They are focusing on low-cost, rapid production using 3D printing and easily accessible materials.
Within the next two weeks, the team aims to have the plan for the production plant finalised and the first units ready to support the UAE’s fight against the virus.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), around 80 per cent of infected people recover without needing hospital treatment, but one person in six becomes seriously ill and can develop pneumonia, which may require ventilator treatment.
As the pandemic continues, thousands of ventilators are needed around the world, and developing them quickly has the potential to save lives.
After chairing the UAE Cabinet meeting at Expo City Dubai on Sunday, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, unveiled 10 green initiatives that will accelerate the country's "environmental goals".
Francisco Vera, a 14-year-old climate activist from Colombia, travelled to COP28 in Dubai with a clear message: put children and adolescents at the centre of climate policies and decisions.
Over $186 million of new financing for nature and climate towards forests, mangroves and the ocean was announced during COP28's Nature, Land Use and Ocean Day.
COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber called on countries on Sunday to work harder, be flexible and accept compromise to reach a deal on tackling climate change, including wording for the first time on the future of fossil fuels.