Transportation and Supply Chain

Agnes Mindila of the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Kenya will develop a software application along with blockchain technology to monitor the supply chains delivering vaccines from the producers to the health workers to ensure good quality vaccines are available when needed. They will use blockchain technology, which involves digitally storing information in blocks that are shared across a network of computers and can be continually updated.

Jessica Vernon of Maisha Meds in the U.S. will develop a smartphone-based point-of-sale system and online ordering platform to better supply medications to the private healthcare markets across sub-Saharan Africa. Local private pharmacies supply important health care products to a large number of people, particularly those without employer-funded health care. However, they are often understocked, or stocked with poor quality or expensive medicines, and require cash payments.

Zawadi Mageni of the Ifakara Health Institute in the United Republic of Tanzania will train local shopkeepers to deliver essential medical supplies to remote areas. Delivery of health products to hard-to-reach areas is problematic due to the poor surrounding transport infrastructure, which suffers further during the rainy seasons. This often means that essential products are out of stock. However, shopkeepers in these areas, with their local knowledge and support, still regularly travel to their central suppliers to maintain their own stocks.

Mitesh Thakkar and Harsh Shetty of Arthify Inc. in the U.S. will use radio-frequency identification tags (RFID) on vaccine packages that can be detected by near-field communication (NFC) now found on most smartphones to better track vaccines and improve supply chains in developing countries. They will develop an application for health workers to automatically read the tags and store the data in a cloud, which can then be used to take inventories. They will also build a website so that the data can be easily monitored by supply chain managers to analyze performance and predict demand.

Bhushan Toley of the Indian Institute of Science in India will develop a device that protects DNA specimens from destruction during transport to laboratories for diagnosis of infectious diseases. Sputum, urine, and blood contain the DNA of infectious agents that can be used to diagnose diseases to aid treatment and help prevent spread. Diagnosis is generally performed in specialized laboratories, but the DNA can be damaged during transport from remote locations due to the length of time it takes or exposure to high temperature.

Jim Duggan of the National University of Ireland, Galway, in Ireland will develop a simulator for public health supply chains in low- to middle-income countries that incorporates the stakeholders and steps needed to provide health care products from the manufacturer to the individual under different conditions, to optimize their performance and ultimately improve health. A key challenge is to ensure that the right medicines are available when needed, particularly when demand is high, for example during epidemics.

Katherine Klapperich of Boston University in the U.S. will develop a simple device that prepares and stores nucleic acid molecules from the blood for diagnostic testing without the need for a cold chain. Current costs for tests such as those to detect HIV are high, due largely to the need to keep the samples cold during transport to district laboratories. Removing the cold chain would also enable samples to be taken at more widespread locations and transported in batches to further reduce transport costs.

Sara Grobbelaar of Stellenbosch University in South Africa will develop a platform that can analyze existing real-time data on the stocks of health products at clinics across South Africa and present it to all players in the supply chain to ensure products are available when needed. In partnership with a Northern academic institution they will collect and sort relevant data, analyze trends, and develop decision-making tools.

Cheikh Tidiane Diagne of the Institut Pasteur de Dakar in Senegal will enable real-time remote sensing and monitoring of specimens during transport to laboratories in low-resource settings to facilitate diagnosis and assist researchers and health workers. Containing outbreaks during epidemics requires the early detection and rapid identification of pathogens, which means quickly and carefully collecting and transporting samples to laboratories. They will develop smart biosample preservation and transportation tools that can be monitored in real time with a remote digital interface.

José Castillo of Univercells in Belgium will create a compact low-cost and automated vaccine manufacturing platform by integrating three new technologies to produce more affordable vaccines at around 0.15USD per dose. Vaccine doses are generally 1-10USD most of which is due to inefficient production and high manufacturing costs including the need for major infrastructure. This relatively high cost prohibits their widespread use particularly in developing countries with limited funds.