The Carlos Slim Foundation and the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of Colombia share experiences in the development of electronic vaccination information systems

In the framework of the workgroups set-up between the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of Colombia and the Carlos Slim Foundation, a delegation of Colombian specialists in the field of health and technology visited Mexico City and Pachuca to discover more about the workings of the Electronic Vaccination Card (CEV), and share their experience in the use and application of the Nominal Information System of the Extended Immunization Program (PAI WEB).

During their visit, they discussed best practices and shared experiences so as to enrich the CEV and PAI WEB platforms, with the aim of jointly developing a digital system that can be offered to countries that do not have this type of platform, in favor of their populations.

In the city of Pachuca, the visited the Jesus del Rosal Health Center, to discover the operation in the field of the Electronic Vaccination Card and observe the work of the community vaccination brigades.

At present a group of Andean countries, led by Colombia, are working on the development and implementation of a Unified Vaccination Card so as to be able to closely follow-up the vaccination programs of the migrant population who move around the region.

For its part, the Carlos Slim Foundation will help with the digitalization of this system so that the digital version of the Unified Vaccination Card can be launched in the first quarter of 2020, which will be launched in physical form as of October 15, 2019.

The delegation from the Colombian Ministry of Health was formed by Dr. Aida Milena Gutierrez, Promotion and Prevention Director; Brigitte Neffer Forest Duque, Integrated Vaccine-preventable Illnesses Management Group Coordinator; and Maria del Pilar Matallana and Diana Yazmin Angarita from the Information Technology and Communication Office.

The Electronic Vaccination Card has the purpose of increasing the coverage, effective access to and the quality of health services and, at the same time, more efficiently using the installed infrastructure and the resources allocated to health in the country.

The Carlos Slim Foundation has, as its mission, the integral formation of people of all ages, in Mexico and Latin America, so that they strengthen their abilities and skills, and can be actively inserted in economic and social development, exploiting greater opportunities and achieving a higher standard of living.