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Bill Gates Funds Mobile Biometrics For Benin Vaccine

Bill Gates Funds Mobile Biometrics For Benin Vaccine

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donated $695,431 to help streamline immunizations in Benin health facilities using mobile biometrics technology, according to BizTechAfrica.

The technology will benefit a population in the West African country served by 120 health facilities with an administrative division roughly equivalent to that of a U.S. state, the report said.

The money will allow new Benin healthcare center workers to get resources and training needed to integrate the VaxTrac system into their vaccination program. The goal is to improve record keeping, reduce vaccine waste, and improve scheduling, especially for children under age 5.

VaxTrac is a set of data collection and analysis tools tailored for immunization programs in developing countries. It uses laptops, tablets and mobile phones to collect data and fingerprint scanners to identify patients. This serves to overcome a major cause of inefficiency in the vaccine delivery system: a lack of information, BizTechAfrica reports.

The funds will allow Benin to re-evaluate its vaccine information management system from a more holistic perspective, integrating previously segregated functions of health records, population statistics and stock management.

The technology has the potential to improve the country’s vaccine delivery system, the report said.

The award is the result of ongoing collaboration with VaxTrac, the Benin Ministry of Health, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization since early 2012 to implement and support clinic-level vaccine data collection technology in 30 health facilities in Benin’s coastal region. The Gates Foundation funds represent a new phase of the project, BizTechAfrica reports.