First grant awarded to strengthen data-driven vaccine delivery
COVIDaction is delighted to announce PATH in Vietnam as the first organisation to receive a grant from the Vaccine Data Co-Lab. PATH in Vietnam are at the front lines of ensuring shots in arms and confirming that everyone in Vietnam can get a vaccine against COVID-19 and has a record to ensure no one is left out.
In May, the UK Aid-funded Vaccine Data Co-Lab launched an Open Call for technical proposals to identify organisations working directly with local and national governments in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to ensure sustained capacity for vaccine deployment. The open call sought organisations aiming to improve vaccine delivery and strengthen data-driven health systems.
The Open Call was hugely successful at reaching a diverse audience, receiving 199 applications from 54 countries across 5 continents made up of organisations ranging from UN agencies and INGOs to social enterprises and civil society organisations. Applications largely aim at information challenges related to misinformation and vaccine hesitancy, and health information access and interoperability by national and local health information systems.
We’re delighted to announce funding to support PATH in Vietnam to provide everyone in the country with COVID-19 digital vaccination certificates, and to align Vietnam’s vaccination certificate system with WHO, EU, and UK standards to open up travel for citizens and international travellers.
Mr Gareth Ward, British Ambassador to Vietnam says “The UK is committed to a wide range of support to Vietnam to manage the COVID19 pandemic. We have donated vaccines and will be providing medical equipment, we have provided assistance on genomic sequencing and health system resilience, and now we are pleased to co-operate on vaccination data systems, with the expertise of PATH. This project will enable Vietnamese Ministry of Health to internationalise their COVID19 vaccine data and certificates and give us more confidence in follow-up data-driven health and socio-economic policies. “
PATH will work with the Vietnam Ministry of Health (MOH) and Viettel Business Solution Corporation (Viettel) to develop their COVID-19 vaccine digital certificate. PATH’s work will include standardising data elements and data types following the World Health Organisation’s (WHO), European Union (EU) and United Kingdom’s (UK) standards; providing technical assistance to enhance system performance; providing support in developing COVID-19 digital certificates on existing Electronic Health Record applications to include printable and electronic certificates, compatibility for domestic travel and linkages to global COVID-19 vaccine data; and developing a video package of promotional materials and self-training videos for health workers and users.
Dr. Nguyen To Nhu, Program Director, Global Health Security and Malaria at PATH in Southeast Asia states: “Thanks to the agile and effective collaboration mechanisms of FCDO’s COVIDaction Vaccine Data Co-Lab, PATH was able to propose and co-create a much needed, practical solution that will support the Vietnam Ministry of Health in standardizing COVID-19 national vaccination and aligning them with international standards; thus, facilitating domestic and international travel to rejuvenate the economy in the new normal.”
Background on the COVIDaction Vaccine Data Co-Lab
The Vaccine Data Co-Lab, a component of the Frontier Technology programme, is an FCDO-led collaboration supporting actionable solutions that improve data-driven prioritisation, allocation, and distribution of COVID-19 Vaccines. This work builds on the success of the Data Challenge for COVIDaction, which was launched at the beginning of the pandemic. COVIDaction invested in and supports a portfolio of tools that address COVID-19 data needs for Ministries of Health, National Statistics Offices, and others to provide evidence-driven policy decisions. As COVID-19 efforts shifted from detection and prevention to vaccine distribution, COVIDaction worked with the COVAX GIS Working Group to launch the Vaccine Data Co-Lab to support LMIC decision-makers with tools required for equitable, transparent, and efficient vaccine delivery. To view that call and learn more about the outcomes visit: https://medium.com/covidaction/data/home
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