JSE-listed hardware company Invicta Holdings has been appointed to help produce bridge ventilators and oxygen helmets, which will be distributed to other African countries in the battle against Covid-19.

African and global philanthropists have teamed up to help African nations secure urgently needed ventilators, breathing support devices and other medical equipment.

Higherlife Foundation co-founder and African Union special envoy Strive Masiyiwa is leading a private partnership to start local manufacturing of the equipment.

He is working with fellow philanthropists Richard Branson and Jeff Skoll, who have identified two solutions that will be manufactured in South Africa.

The initiative will start with the production of 1 000 bridge ventilators, a design that was provided to this partnership for free by Virgin Orbit and has recently received emergency use authorisation by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

It is designed with a price significantly lower than a normal ventilator.

The partners are also in discussions with Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company regarding the oxygen helmet prototype.

The helmet will be produced in partnership with National Aeronautics and Space Administration Armstrong Flight Research Center and the Aerospace Valley Task Force, both in California, pending a grant of emergency use authorisation by the FDA.

Oxygen helmets help open up the alveoli in the lungs and delay or prevent Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS).

“We have found a major South African company called Invicta Holdings that can mass produce these bridge ventilators and oxygen helmets. Any country that wants them can buy them at cost from that company,” says Masiyiwa, who is also the founder of telecommunications group Econet Global.

Invicta chairperson Dr Christo Wiese has committed to various initiatives with the objective of minimising the spread of Covid-19 and the potential devastating outcome on the people of Africa.

Invicta says it looks forward to working with the stakeholders to procure specialised equipment designed by some of the best engineers in the world from Virgin Orbit and Virgin Galactic.

Further, Masiyiwa has also pulled together a team to build an online platform to manage global procurement of medical equipment, including personal protective equipment.

This platform will play a critical role in supply management, with Invicta being one of the manufacturers which has agreed to sell medical equipment through this platform.

In further aid of African countries, Skoll, through his Skoll Foundation, donated $200-million to assist during this time.

“The global scope of this pandemic requires an urgent and coordinated response. This is a tangible example of how working together gets us farther, faster on behalf of those who deserve access to protective equipment and assistive breathing devices but have been boxed out of the global purchasing markets.”