Locations“They said women like us couldn’t use technology. I set out to prove them wrong."
April 30, 2025
Nirmala (on the extreme left) was one of the first healthcare professionals to operate eVIN.
Ten years ago, Rewa—a quiet district in Madhya Pradesh—became the unlikely starting point of a digital revolution in India’s universal immunization programme. That was also when 52-year-old Nirmala Singh encountered a piece of technology that would not only ease her workload but also give her something she still holds close—pride.
In 2015, Rewa was chosen to pilot a quiet but powerful experiment: the Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network, or eVIN. This central Indian district became the testing ground for a system launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) that would track vaccines every step of the way. Supported by GAVI and UNDP, eVIN promised something simple yet revolutionary—no more stockouts at health centres, and assurance that every vial would be stored at the right temperature, from factory to field.
Fuelling this transformation were healthcare workers like Nirmala, an Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) at the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Teonthar, a semi-urban pocket in Rewa.
Nirmala’s persistence helped her master the digital platform - eVIN
“Working on digital technologies was new, but exhilarating. I got to use a smartphone, which very few people around me even owned,” Nirmala said, smiling. “Some people sneered, saying women like us wouldn’t be able to work with technology. I thought to myself—let me prove them wrong.”
India’s Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) is massive, reaching millions of newborns, children, and pregnant women. eVIN, if successful, was expected to scale up—provided it could show a significant improvement over the paper-based system.
“eVIN changed the way we work. Earlier, we used to fill up requisitions on paper and figure out a way to send it to the district vaccine store. But with eVIN, all this could be done with a few clicks,” said Nirmala.
High adoption of eVIN among health-workers has spurred the transformation of vaccine supply chain
The validation for eVIN became even stronger when a MoHFW survey revealed that in just 12 states where eVIN was rolled out, over 90 million vaccine doses were saved. It also delivered a return on investment of 2.91—for every 1 USD invested, 2.91 USD was saved. But it was workers like Nirmala who made that impact possible by embracing the technology—and getting their own return on investment in the process.
“When people in my neighbourhood saw me using a smartphone, they began coming to me for help—whether it was looking up information or figuring out how to use their own new phones or using Facebook,” Nirmala beamed.
India’s 10-year-old journey of building digital health platforms continued through the pandemic too, when it rolled out Co-WIN—a platform that became the technical backbone of India’s vaccination drive, helping administer over 2 billion vaccine doses in under 18 months.
And more recently, it went a step ahead in this journey by rolling out the Universal Immunization WIN platform, or U-WIN. This innovation draws on the experience of building Co-WIN and eVIN and digitizes immunization services that were still being offered in a conventional way.
Over the past 10 years, Rita Patwar has been using eVIN, Co-WIN, and U-WIN as part of her work as an ANM
U-WIN is a game-changing digital platform designed to make immunization services more accessible, transparent, and efficient for the public. With U-WIN, parents can book vaccination appointments and access services anywhere in the country. It also supports frontline health workers in mobilizing communities and managing immunization drives more effectively.
As it has been with eVIN, the success of U-WIN has been due to the tireless efforts of female frontline healthcare workers like 55-year-old Rita Patwar, who demonstrated that technology is not a barrier but a bridge—empowering them to deliver better services, earn the community’s trust, and take pride in being at the forefront of a digital public health transformation.
Nirmala Patwar, teaches a young mother how to use U-WIN for booking appointments
“I had never operated a smartphone or a computer all my life. But the training I got to operate digital platforms made me adept at navigating a smartphone and a computer,” said Patwar, who is now posted at the Shyam Shah Medical College in Rewa.
In the past 10 years, Patwar has found proficiency across three digital platforms—eVIN, Co-WIN, and U-WIN.
“I would like to tell the women of the world: if you learn, nothing is impossible. All you need is hard work and persistence. We can do it,” said Patwar.
“But it is still children who didn’t get vaccinations on time that spurs me to come to work,” added the dogged healthcare worker before moving on with her day.
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