GSK and Save the Children Award Helps Save Lives in Vietnam

GSK and Save the Children in Vietnam on March 8 presented the Healthcare Innovation Award to PATH Vietnam for its Immreg system that digitalizes immunization recording in the country. 

The 400,000 USD award will enable PATH to replicate the system in Vietnam, helping health workers and families to save time and prevent errors.

Instead of handwriting records which is time-consuming and prone to errors, health workers now use a computer or smart phone to monitor vaccine stocks; register pregnant women and newborns; and track what vaccines they have received. They can also remind pregnant women and mothers via text message to get vaccinations for them and their child. The system has been successfully implemented in the southern province of Ben Tre. 

GSK and Save the Children launched a five-year partnership in 2013 with the ambition of saving the lives of 1 million children in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities. The partnership focuses on working together to maximize innovations to tackle under-5 child mortality. For example, Save the Children is involved in helping GSK to research and develop child-friendly medicines, with a seat on a new paediatric R&D board to accelerate progress on innovative life-saving interventions for under-fives, and to identify ways to ensure the widest possible access in the developing world.

The Healthcare Innovation Award is part of the partnership that has sought to identify innovations that are making a tangible difference to children’s health, and enable the innovations to be shared and replicate their approaches. Since 2013, more than a dozen inventive approaches have been recognized.