Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) & Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) announced a Grand Challenge for the Strengthening of “CoWIN” – COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network (CoWIN).
i.CoWIN is a digital platform developed by MoHFW to roll out & scale up mechanisms for COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution System (VDS) across India.
Gist of the Grand Challenge:
i.The Challenge is set to be launched on MSH (MeitY Startup Hub) Portal, a collaborative platform developed under MeitY.
ii.Startups, Technology specialists have been invited to take part in the challenge.
iii.The challenge will address areas relating to infrastructure, monitoring & management, dynamic learning & information systems, constraints of human resources-including technical capacities, vaccine logistics management & Tracking of enlisted beneficiaries (due to adverse events following immunization).
iv.MoHFW has identified 7 focus areas of technology development to address the limitations associated with effective VDS & its administration across India.
Winners:
i.The Top 5 applicants of the challenge will be provided with API (Application Programming Interface) of CoWIN to platform to prove the effectiveness of their solutions.
ii.The 5 Shortlisted applicants will stand a chance to win INR 2 Lakhs covering their logistical requirements.
iii.Top 2 contestants of the challenge will be rewarded with INR 40 Lakhs & 20 Lakhs.
Note – The participants may register at https://meitystartuphub.in from 23rd December 2020 to 15th January 2021.
eVIN System:
i.Government is increasing the use of Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN) system to enhance real-time information on vaccine stocks and storage temperatures across all cold chain points in India.
ii.This will help in addressing the needs for distribution and tracking of COVID-19 vaccine.
Recent Related News:
i.On April 21, 2020, Amidst the coronavirus epidemic, Dr Harsh Vardhan, the Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare has launched the ‘COVID India Seva’, a Twitter handle for citizen engagement on the coronavirus (COVID-19).
About Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW):
Union Minister – Harsh Vardhan
Minister of State – Ashwini Kumar Choubey
About Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY):
Union Minister – Ravi Shankar Prasad
Minister of State – Sanjay Dhotre
