Ephrance Nuwamanya of Bushenyi Integrated Rural Development (BIRD) in Uganda will improve routine immunization coverage in Uganda by developing a digital system for health centers to record births and vaccinations, send automated reminders and education messages to families via SMS, and monitor vaccine orders and supplies. Vaccinations can prevent many potentially deadly diseases. However, few children are properly vaccinated across many sub-Saharan African countries, and there is no effective way to monitor vaccinations and educate families. To address this, whey will optimize their digital system for data collection and management of newborns and vaccinations, and integrate it with existing databases and hospital management systems. They will pilot test their approach in three district health centers in rural Uganda by teaching the health workers and local communities about their vaccination and information management system (VIMS), and evaluating its impact on the timeliness and coverage of vaccinations.

Olorunsogo Adeoye of the African Field Epidemiology Network in Nigeria will set up an immunization tracking system based on SMS in Nigeria to register children's immunizations, send out reminders of vaccination schedules, and educate families on the importance of routine childhood immunizations. Late or missing vaccinations are a major cause of morbidity and mortality particularly in developing countries. Poor vaccination coverage is due in part to a lack of information given to families on the importance and time-sensitivity of vaccinations and on the recommended schedules. They will develop an SMS-based tracking tool to work with an existing health management system so that health facilities can record each child's data, and SMS reminders can be regularly sent to families and health facilities to inform them when vaccinations are due. Automated voice jingles and messages will also be designed to provide families with useful information. Their system will be tested using 20 health facilities in Sokoto State in Nigeria where 2014-15 records show that none of the children in 40 districts received the complete set of vaccinations.

Sidney Sampson of Sydsam Integrated Services Limited in Nigeria will produce a low-cost wristband that can be worn by infants from birth until nine months that uses a flashing light to remind mothers when one of the five standard childhood vaccinations is due. Timely childhood vaccinations are critical for preventing deadly diseases, but many low-resource settings such as northwestern Nigeria have low immunization coverage rates and high dropout rates. They will design a waterproof silicon wristband in different colors and test it for user friendliness and safety. The prototype will then be pilot tested over 10 months in 132 urban and rural health facilities across Nigeria for improving timely immunization coverage.

Emmanuel Ihedioha of Lifespan Healthcare Resource Ltd in Nigeria will develop a web-based platform that acts as a lifetime register to track the immunizations of all Nigerian children from birth, issues timely reminders to parents and community members via SMS, and informs medical facilities which vaccines are needed. Currently, immunization cards issued to mothers are used to record and plan immunizations, but they can be lost or contain errors. An added problem is that the required vaccine is not always available at every clinic because it is difficult to know how much will be needed and where. The platform will be functional offline and can be periodically synchronized with the web-hosted platform when internet connection is available to keep the register up to date. They will pilot test their platform through Nigeria's national program on immunization in six states to evaluate its effect on timely vaccine uptake, and get feedback from users.