Sustainability challenges in medical equipment donations to low- and middle-income countries

Access to medical equipment (ME) is an essential component of the healthcare infrastructure. Due to the high manufacturing cost, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) rely on donations from high-resource settings to meet their demand for ME. International organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) have prescribed guidelines for sustainable donations. A few research studies have assessed current donation practices’ compliance with new and used ME. This study aims to investigate commonly recurring challenges and compile practical recommendations for ME donation programs in LMICs. To validate the findings from the literature review, semi-structured interviews were conducted with three different types of recipients across Pakistan and Sierra Leone. There are some obstacles affecting this sustainable ME donation program. These hurdles can be overcome by strict compliance with the official WHO guidelines, empowering the recipient through communication and policy, establishing vital metrics, and developing sustainable long-term donor-recipient relationships, and by comprehensive evaluation of the impact of all the stakeholders in the ME ecosystem. This study concludes that well-established guidelines and policies are critical to successful ME donation programs.