Governance: Public health project gets £250,000 grant

LAHORE:

The Information Technology University (ITU) was on Friday awarded £250,000 grant for a public health project designed by its Innovations for Poverty Alleviation Lab (IPAL).

The contract signing ceremony for the grant provided by the provincial government’s Sub-National Governance Programme (SNGP) was attended by Vice Chancellor Umar Saif and by SNGP’s  Hamid Yaqoob. Officials from the SNGP and the Chief Minister Health Roadmap Team were also present.

Saif told the media that the project titled Har Zindagi (Every Life Matters) was selected from 247 projects. He said the project would help the government increase the number of children immunised against preventable diseases and the quality of vaccination administration. He said under the project vaccinators would use a smartphone application to store immunisation record on a central database maintained at the IPAL. He said the record would be available to policymakers at all times. Saif said parents of those immunised would be provided with a re-designed immunisation card for their record. He said satellite imagery would be used to improve vaccination coverage by identifying households not covered in the campaign. He said during its pilot phase the project would be started in Sahiwal and Sheikhupura districts.

SMS-based reminders and robo-calls to parents would be other features of the project.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 23^rd, 2015.