USAID's CoVLEx Initiative Brings Private Sector Learnings To Global South The CoVLEx initiative is a unique platform that shares best practices on COVID-19 vaccination strategies among five Indian cities
By Shrabona Ghosh •
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The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and Population Services International (PSI), hosted a virtual discussion through the City-to-City COVID-19 Vaccine Learning Exchange (CoVLEx) initiative. Representatives from cities and countries across the global south gathered to discuss the critical role of the private sector in global efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
USAID launched the CoVLEx program in September 2021, in partnership with NITI Aayog and the ministry of health and family welfare, government of India, to share tools and best practices as the world races to vaccinate as many people as possible in order to save lives, jumpstart the global economy, and prevent the threat of new variants, said a statement.
"As an architect of COWIN, I was very clear about the crucial role public-private partnership can play to roll out our vaccination program. The pandemic is too big to be tackled by one entity alone. We designed COWIN as a multiparty platform wherein all vaccine providers, vaccinators and hospitals involved in the vaccination program could be both private and public entities. The vaccination program also included all stakeholders during the design process. The technology solution for COWIN ultimately used an open, inclusive, and inter-operable system that could be enabled by any third-party applicator or even within facilities to start vaccination in a very well-defined API and track progress," said Dr R S Sharma, CEO, National Health Authority.
The CoVLEx initiative is a unique platform that shares best practices on COVID-19 vaccination strategies among five Indian cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Indore, Bhubaneswar), 10 southeast Asian and African cities, Hanoi (Vietnam), Dhaka (Bangladesh), Biratnagar (Nepal), Phnom Penh (Cambodia), Kampala (Uganda), Cape Town (South Africa), Lilongwe (Malawi), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Abuja (Nigeria) and Nairobi (Kenya).
