Arm and Simprints collaborate to unlock access to healthcare

Fran Baker, Director of Sustainability and Social Impact at Arm, writes a guest blog for Simprints.

Healthcare is a universal human right which everyone should have access to. However, communities worldwide are missing out on the continuity of healthcare and life-saving services that are meant for them because they have no safe, reliable, mobile form of ID.

For governments, international development organisations, and local NGOs, this presents a very real challenge – how can we verify that critical services and resources (such as vaccines, humanitarian aid parcels, and mosquito bed nets) are reaching target populations?  This uncertainty is exactly what Simprints is tackling through its biometric solutions in seventeen low- and middle-income countries across the globe.

Watch the BBC StoryWorks film about our work in Ghana

Arm and Simprints in partnership

The partnership between Arm and Simprints started in 2014, when Arm helped Simprints transition from a student research group to a fully-fledged not-for-profit company. Since the inception of Simprints, Arm has loaned engineers for skills-based pro-bono assignments, provided funding as part of our social impact strategy and made vital network connections. This has led to the continuous development and innovation of Simprints’ biometric digital ID solutions and the establishing of vital partnerships covering national governments, commercial companies and other not-for-profit organisations. 

Equitable vaccine delivery in Ghana

Since 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic, Arm has been collaborating with Gavi, a global health partnership to increase access to immunisation in developing countries, supporting them and Simprints to deliver equitable vaccine delivery through biometric digital ID technologies. 

850 million people worldwide do not have formal identification documents, which means they are being excluded from essential services, with one of these being healthcare. Moreover, only 7% of children living in the 73 poorest countries are fully immunised. Responding to this need, Simprints developed an Arm-based mobile fingerprint scanning solution called SimprintsID, which enables healthcare partners to verify whether vaccines are delivered to specific people. Such biometric digital IDs are transformative for populations, as they help to enable access to life-saving services and continuity of care. 

Multiple evaluations have shown Simprints can reduce errors, enable vaccinators to find patients faster and increase successful patient tracing. Through working with Ghana Health Services, over 150 Ghanaian healthcare workers have already been trained using the technology as part of the wider vaccination programme in Ghana. This followed the Simprints’ Gavi-supported deployment in Ghana’s Eastern region, which integrated Simprints into the existing system to provide biometric identification at the point of vaccine delivery. 

Powerful impact

• Together, Arm and Simprints are strengthening the data tracking systems to optimise the rollout of the malaria vaccine in two regions of Ghana using a state-of-the-art biometrics mobile application. 
• This ground-breaking project is a first in Ghana – rolling out the first biometric technology designed for the last mile and for frontline health workers with contact and contactless biometric modalities. 
• The malaria vaccine requires four separate and accurately timed rounds to ensure full protection. With its app, Simprints is enabling healthcare workers to track the immunisation status of patients, maximising vaccination coverage and reducing the number of children who don’t complete the vaccination series.

The dedication, expertise, entrepreneurship, and innovation from these partnerships are an inspiration. Together with Simprints, we are delivering more equal, improved access to healthcare in Ghana through technology, demonstrating the power of technology for good.