What is the name of your organization?
IRD Global
What is the name of your solution?
ZindagiMehfooz (SafeLife) EIR
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
ZindagiMehfooz EIR (ZM-EIR): Empowering vaccinators and governments to reach every child with an AI-enabled Electronic Immunization Registry
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Karachi, Pakistan
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
Pakistan
What type of organization is your solution team?
Nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
ZM-EIR leverages big data to address critical challenges in childhood immunization - particularly low coverage and delays - that leave millions of children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) and diminish herd immunity at the community level.
In 2020, approximately 17% of infants did not receive the basic three doses of the DPT vaccine, while over 17 million children failed to receive even the first dose. This crisis deepened in 2021, which saw the largest decline in childhood vaccinations in three decades.
Multiple structural and behavioral factors underlie this decline:
- High dropout rates between doses
- Poorly organized immunization services
- Limited caregiver awareness, especially in remote and underserved areas
- Reliance on paper-based registries, which are time-consuming, error-prone, and lack capacity to track timeliness and follow-up
Inaccurate estimations of target populations hinder efforts to measure true immunization coverage. The absence of individual-level digital records makes it difficult to identify and follow up with unvaccinated children, leading to persistent gaps in protection.
Countries with lowest Full Immunization Coverage (FIC) include Afghanistan, Guinea, Chad, Angola, and Nigeria, with under one-third fully immunized, while India and Pakistan report significant gender inequity in coverage.
What is your solution?
ZM-EIR represents a significant leap from inefficient, paper-based immunization systems to a digital platform capturing individual-level data. Universally implemented across Sindh province since 2017, ZM-EIR has processed over 159 million immunizations, more than 17 million beneficiaries have been enrolled to date. Basic predictive analytical algorithms enhance the collection, reporting, and utilization of immunization information, improving data quality and reducing the administrative burden on vaccinators.
Real-time monitoring empowers health workers to identify and follow up with under-immunized children by generating defaulter lists and reports on missed vaccinations. ZM-EIR’s geospatial mapping capabilities, down to the smallest administrative units, support targeted outreach in high-risk and underserved areas. Integrated algorithms calculate due vaccines based on age and history, while automated SMS reminders improve timeliness by addressing caregiver forgetfulness and low awareness.
Supervisors gain oversight through dashboards that monitor vaccinator attendance, location, data entry compliance, and coverage levels. Regular performance reports promote accountability and improve morale.
By providing reliable, real-time data, ZM-EIR supports evidence-based planning and enables health officials to allocate resources more effectively. Our success in Sindh opens the potential for enhanced AI capabilities that strengthen immunization systems across LMICs, helping close the immunization gap and reducing the burden of VPDs.
https://youtu.be/2cObza6ByPQ
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
ZM-EIR is a proven digital platform transforming how childhood immunizations are delivered in LMICs. It addresses key barriers to immunization - such as poor tracking, delayed vaccinations, and high dropout rates - through real-time, data-driven tools.
ZM-EIR is especially impactful for underserved populations, including children in remote rural villages, urban slums, and conflict-affected regions. These communities often face limited healthcare access, poor infrastructure, and low caregiver awareness, leaving children vulnerable to VPDs.
By digitizing individual records, ZM-EIR enables health workers to identify zero-dose and children at risk for default, prioritize timely vaccination, and reduce administrative workload. Caregivers benefit from automated SMS reminders and helpline support, which improve adherence to vaccination schedules.
The addition of real-time AI capabilities that alert vaccinators to potential risks of missed or delayed immunizations - and generate enhanced performance and planning reports for vaccinators, centers, and districts - can significantly improve the value and uptake of ZM-EIR. AI can support vaccine demand forecasting, identify zero-dose children through geospatial data, and improve cold chain management with predictive maintenance. It also enables optimized workforce deployment, early outbreak detection, and better decision-making via predictive dashboards. Tailored, AI-driven messaging can increase caregiver awareness, reduce hesitancy, and improve vaccination timeliness.
