Internet of things remote monitoring solutions for efficient storage and delivery of temperature-sensitive vaccines in Rwanda

Abstract

Pandemics such as COVID-19 pandemic cause a significant loss of human life around the world, and they constitute a very big challenge to public health. Lack of efficient and well-monitored vaccination systems leads to people’s death and impact the economy of individuals and of the country in general. Some vaccines are temperature-sensitive, therefore, storing and delivering the vaccination to rural remote area in suboptimal conditions reduces their efficacy or even spoil the vaccine. Currently, monitoring of these vaccines is done manually and this is unreliable, making it impossible to know if their effectiveness has deteriorated by the time they are injected in individuals. This research project has been conducted with the objective of developing an Internet of Things Remote Monitoring Solution (IoT RMS) to provide a real-time monitoring of storage and delivery of these temperature-sensitive vaccines together with the ability to alert whenever there is an issue. Although some vaccines can be kept under 2oC, our system will only serve for vaccines kept between 2 and 8 degree Celsius which is the WHO recommended range. The methodology used consists of gathering information about the currently used cold chain systems, the types of systems used, their problems, and the needs in locally produced monitoring product. Questionnaires and One-on-one interviews with people directly linked with vaccine cold chain have been conducted to quickly map concepts and develop the cold chain IoT RMS product. The results obtained showed that 100% of all respondents manually record vaccine temperatures on daily basis, they 100% store vaccines into refrigerators, only 50% were aware of the (2-8oC) WHO recommended temperature range for vaccines storage. 60% of vaccine stores have standby generators for automatic power backup in case of power outages. There is no any remote monitoring tool used for all vaccine stores as well as for vaccine delivery process. Sensors, Microcontroller Units, wireless communication technology and user interface have been connected together and configured to produce a prototype of an IoT RMS system. Test results proved that the designed system will be a suitable solution to the existing cold chain challenges and the data obtained compared to the data from existing system present high accuracy. To maintain efficient and accurate cold chain systems the research thesis recommends that cold chain technicians should be continuously trained, standby generators should be installed and regularly maintained, IoT RMS solution should be adopted.