News excerpt:

Ground report from pilot project in MP village shows how ASHA workers are pivoting a digital revolution by using U-Win, the government’s new childhood vaccination management portal.

More about news:

• Government’s is conducting a pilot project in 64 districts to register pregnant women and children on U-Win for last mile coverage of maternal and child care. 
• The platform, which is likely to be formally launched on August 15, will be driven by community health workers, who have already had success in polio and COVID vaccinations.
• Under this project ASHA workers in India to have registered a child on the portal, goes door-to-door collecting data and uploading it on to the digital platform to ensure that no child misses their shot. 
• Every immunization day, the portal automatically generates a list of children due for vaccination and sends an SMS alert on their parent’s phones.
• This real-time registration of children and online record of vaccination are aimed at reducing the number of “zero-dose” children (those who do not receive their first diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus-containing vaccine), especially among migrant workers, who can now get the children vaccinated at any centre across the country without carrying any documents. Since August last year, ASHA workers, auxiliary nurses and midwives (ANMs)  and health centers in the Jabalpur division have been registered on the U-Win portal.
• Better data mining can improve last-mile coverage. It ensures better compliance. one can identify the exact number of children locality wise, who are unvaccinated, and the reason for it and can tailor the interventions accordingly.

About U Win Portal:

• The U-WIN portal, a replication of the Covid-19 vaccine management system Co-WIN, is set for a pan-India launch likely by the end of August, aiming to maintain an electronic registry of routine immunisations.
• U-WIN platform captures each & every vaccination event of all pregnant women & children under Universal Immunization Programme (UIP).
• The U-WIN will ensure timely administration of vaccine doses by digitally recording every vaccination event under the Universal ImmunizationImmunisation Programme among all pregnant women and children aged 0-5 years.
• The portal will target 2.9 crore pregnant women and 2.6 crore infants (0-1 years) annually by providing 11 vaccines against 12 vaccine preventable diseases -- diphtheria, measles, rubella, and tetanus through more than 1.2 crore vaccination sessions across the country.
• The platform generates a uniform QR-based, digitally verifiable e-vaccination certificate, similar to Covid vaccination certificate, which can be accessed anytime by the citizens through a single click.
• The U-Win portal is one of the important steps towards halving the number of zero-dose children by 2030.

Benefits of U-WIN:

• Online Self Registration: All Pregnant women can self-register on U-WIN Vaccination Platform to create one time registration. If already registered on CoWIN, need to use the same mobile number to access U-WIN wherein a woman can tag herself as Pregnant women and new registration of child can also be done using the existing guardian’s account. Registration can be also done through walk-in/on-site mode at the nearest vaccination center.
• Generation of ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account): Registered Newborns & Children can also have an ABHA based on their parent’s Aadhaar Number.

• Search Vaccination Centers: The beneficiary can search nearby vaccination centers using State/District filters in order to get vaccination at the desired center.

• Scheduling of appointment for vaccination: The beneficiary can take online appointment for desired vaccination session & vaccination center as per his/her choice. All vaccines are available at all sessions.

• Digitalising Vaccination Record: Each vaccine dose is administered to an identifiable individual only, after due verification. Digital Vaccination Record of all Pregnant women & children gets created real time.

• Digital Acknowledgement: Beneficiaries will get digital acknowledgement for vaccination every time dose would be administered and receive digital e-Vaccination certificate. Beneficiaries can download & save the certificate in Mobile Phone applications which would be easily available for future use.

• Notifications and Reminders: Beneficiaries will get Text SMS notifications and reminders with next due dates of their subsequent vaccination.

• Ensuring dose intervals: Adherence will be further strengthened with minimum dose interval between two doses through the U-WIN system.

• Provision to get vaccinated across the country: With digitalization of the vaccination system, vaccination services can be availed " Anywhere " in the country at scheduled vaccination sessions.

Universal Immunization Programme (UIP):

• India’s Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) is a part of the Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) Program under National Health Mission (NHM).
• It is one of the largest public health programs in the world under which vaccination is being provided free of cost to all pregnant women & children.
• Vaccination can be availed against 12 vaccine preventable diseases: nationally against 11 diseases- Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Polio, Measles, Rubella, severe form of childhood Tuberculosis, Rotavirus Diarrhoea, Hepatitis B, Meningitis & Pneumonia caused by Hemophilus Influenza Type B and Pneumococcal Pneumonia and sub-nationally against 1 Disease - Japanese Encephalitis (JE vaccine is provided only in endemic districts).

National Immunization Schedule (NIS):

Conclusion:

However, teething troubles remain. Delivery centers still lack vaccine stores and internet connectivity is patchy. But all these challenges can be tackled by structural reforms in the program with U-WIN as supporting system. Moreover the U-WIN is going to be the single source of information for immunization services which will record pregnancy details and outcome, newborn registration and immunization at birth. It will update vaccination status, and delivery outcome, among others, in real time.