Biometric vaccination program receives grant
12 December, 2011
category: Biometrics, Health
A project conceived of by researchers from RMIT University that intends to link infant footprint records to vaccination records has received a grant from the Grand Challenges Explorations initiative, a part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, according to an Asian Scientist article.
The project, which will be piloted in developing countries, has been named Happy Feet and hopes to have the vaccination history of children immediately available through a scan or photograph of one of their feet run through a biometric system that could match the child to a file containing his vaccination history.
The team behind Happy Feet was one of the 110 receiving grants from the Grand Challenges Explorations initiative, which starts out with two separate $100,000 grants followed by a chance to receive an additional $1 million should the project prove itself successful.
The criteria required to be met for receiving a grant form the initiative is the use of unorthodox and attainable approaches to tackle health problems in the developing world.
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