Category: Policies & Practices
Hearing from the health workers themselves: User feedback on digital solutions accelerates progress
Nov 5, 2020
Sharing health workers’ experiences with digital solutions is a critical step to ensure the new tools and systems are adopted and embraced. It matters to users, implementing partners, decision makers, developers, and all who are engaged with digital health solutions. Throughout implementation of the BID Initiative in Tanzania and Zambia, feedback was collected from health workers about the devices and systems they used. This helped to inform the design of the digital tools and—once they were rolled out—contributed to their refinement and improvement.
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Simplifying the vaccine cost equation
Oct 7, 2020
For country decision-makers, the opportunity to introduce a new vaccine comes with many considerations. Is the vaccine needed? What are the benefits? Is there enough capacity in the cold chain system? Often most important—what will it cost, and can our country afford it?
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In historic milestone, Zambia expands its electronic immunization registry to a second province
Oct 6, 2020
Zambia’s Electronic Immunization Registry (ZEIR) will roll out to a second province next month, under the leadership and direction of the Ministry of Health (MOH). It represents the government’s commitment to scaling ZEIR. It’s also a chance for the government to increasingly lead rollout. While the BID Initiative partnered with the MOH in Southern Province, Western Province will be led by the MOH, in partnership with the EPI-OPT consortium, including CHAZ, UNICEF, PATH and CIDRZ.
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Using electronic immunization registry data to demonstrate the value of digital systems
Sep 23, 2020
A growing number of countries have embraced electronic immunization registries (EIRs) that enable data-driven decision-making. To better shape the value proposition for countries using or considering using EIRs, the BID Initiative has started a new scope of work led by a global BID Analytics team that will use data from the digital systems in Tanzania. The work builds on previous landscaping and stakeholder conversations held in late 2019 and early 2020, to summarize common immunization barriers and the EIR features that help respond to these challenges.
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Tanzania’s electronic immunization registry rolls out new features to respond to COVID-19
Sep 10, 2020
As COVID-19 rattles many countries and their health systems, Tanzania is turning to its robust network of digital health systems to help curb the pandemic. Under the government’s strong leadership, the Tanzania Immunization Registry (TImR) has been in use since 2017. Now, the country is exploring new features for TImR that will strengthen the system and enable its role in the pandemic response.
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Governing data for better health
Jul 8, 2020
Health data can do enormous good—if they are governed with a trustworthy, nimble, and equitable approach. Here’s how.
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BLN offers virtual platform for peer learning as countries square off against COVID-19
May 27, 2020
On a Thursday last month, the Zoom line crackled with greetings and introductions. BID Learning Network (BLN) members from more than a dozen different countries and professional backgrounds convened for a webinar presentation about the application of electronic immunization registries (EIRs) to the COVID-19 pandemic. The webinar, which opened with two presentations from Pakistan and Tanzania, was followed by a discussion about maintaining immunization services even as many countries struggle to curb COVID-19. Countries shared challenges, their early lessons from the pandemic, and their concerns for the coming months. It was a chance to talk candidly with peers about a rapidly evolving outbreak that has gripped every corner of the globe.
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Maintaining commitment to immunization in Africa through COVID-19 and beyond
May 14, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic is putting a strain on health systems worldwide. The increasing demand on health facilities and health care workers has dramatically shifted resources from essential routine health services—such as immunization—to COVID-19 response as countries put in place measures to control the infection and limit the impact on health systems and economies. However, the world has learned from past outbreaks of diseases like Ebola that disruption of immunization services—even for brief periods—can result in outbreaks and unnecessary deaths.
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The costs of electronic immunization registries, sharing BID’s experience to help other countries plan
Mar 17, 2020
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Case study celebrates lessons and catalytic potential of rapid, iterative software development across three countries
Feb 26, 2020
Pakistan, Zambia, and Kenya are among a growing number of countries implementing electronic immunization registries (EIRs) to improve data quality and health facility performance. But EIRs can be costly to design and introduce. Seeking a solution that had already demonstrated proof of concept, these countries turned to the Open Smart Register Platform (OpenSRP), a mobile health platform based on global standards of care that allows frontline health workers to electronically register and track individuals for immunization.
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