Rwamagana, Rwanda: The University of Birmingham is involved in a new project, called VaccMap, that will track 30,000 vaccine vials through the cold chain in Rwanda to improve vaccine security.
The VaccMap project will aim to use digital tracking and accountability technology to determine the precise burden of open- and closed-vaccine vial losses, and where and how these losses occur. Open-vial losses are when there are not enough individuals to vaccinate after giving the first dose from a vial, and the leftover unused doses in the vial need to be discarded because they have been removed from the cold chain for too long. Closed vial losses, the loss of a whole vaccine vial before being opened, can commonly cost up to 6-10 doses each time and are usually due to physical damage, vaccine expiry or loss of temperature control at some point in the cold chain.
Toby Peters, professor in cold economy at the University of Birmingham, and co-director of the Centre for Sustainable Cooling, said: “The vaccine cold chain underpins vaccine policy and is part of any country’s critical national infrastructure. This cold chain is vital for every birth in every country in the world. However, 20% of African children do not receive a complete immunisation schedule and more than 30 million children under five years old suffer from vaccine-preventable diseases every year, 68% of which are in Africa.
“An estimated 25% or more vaccine doses are compromised by failures in cold-chain custody (freezing or excess heat exposure). Through this project we hope to get a better understanding of where these losses occur in the Rwandan cold chain to prevent them from happening and design future cold chain systems to ensure more people can access effective vaccines sustainably.”
The project, which started in December 2023, is being delivered in partnership with the Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-Chain, Rwanda Biomedical Center, Circulor and Crown Agents.
The study, which will run until March 2024, is taking place in the Rwamagana District of Rwanda, at the Rwamagana District Hospital and 16 health centres in the east of the country.
