4. The problem of vaccine spoilage and a smart sensor to help（subtitles）

00:12

There I was, an American woman,

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up to my knees in muck, wielding these strange metal boxes.

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I was in rural Bangladesh,

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deploying sensors that we'd built

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in order to understand why the ground water was making people sick.

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And I attracted some attention.

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But my tech simply measured the problem.

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The local communities that I'd really come to connect with

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were expecting a solution.

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So I raised funds, hired engineers from the city

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in order to dig a deep well and bypass the arsenic

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and provide access to clean water.

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And we celebrated.

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But as I boarded the plane, I thought, “What if it breaks?”

01:02

I'm an engineer.

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I know that's not if but when.

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When the well breaks, who will fix it?

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How will they pay for it?

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And will they even know there's a problem in the first place?

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And I soon learned that this is all too often

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how lifesaving equipment is deployed globally

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in countries with limited electricity and infrastructure.

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I kept thinking, I don't want to just build sensors

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that measure a problem once it's very bad.

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What if instead we brought together the tech built to measure

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together with the equipment built to solve?

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What could we unlock?

01:45

Take vaccines.

01:47

Vaccines won't work if they get too hot or, surprisingly, too cold,

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so distributing vaccines requires refrigerators,

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big and small,

02:00

to function reliably.

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Fridges can save lives,

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but all too often, like any kitchen appliance, they break.

02:10

One study in South Asia found

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that over half of vaccine doses showed evidence of temperature damage

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by the time of the end of their journey.

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This means that the children that would have received those vaccines

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may not have actually been protected.

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Fridge failure is a big problem,

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and it can happen anywhere.

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Here in California,

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in 2015, Stanford Children's Health discovered a fridge

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that had been malfunctioning for up to eight months.

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Staff contacted 1,500 families about revaccinating those children.

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But what if you can't just get the families on the phone?

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What if they live a six-hour walk away?

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What if that first shot is your only shot?

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The stakes are high, especially now with COVID vaccines.

03:01

Now, in May 2021, in Tanzania,

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a failing fridge with our smart sensor

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prompted an immediate response from the regional immunization officer,

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and a technician was out to the site and fixed some faulty wiring,

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and all the vaccines at that site stayed safe.

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Real-time sensor data made all the difference.

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We built a simple solution that continuously monitors the temperature

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and keeps that fridge in Tanzania connected.

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It sends an immediate text message automatically when the fridge fails,

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and importantly, the nurses and the technicians are ready

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and equipped to respond and fix the problem.

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My team and our partners have scaled this technology

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to over 15,000 sites across Asia and Africa,

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protecting the vaccine supply

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for one in 10 babies born on Earth each year.

04:01

(Applause)

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And the same data that's used to actually detect the broken equipment

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can also be used to reveal the strongest links in the chain.

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These are the best sites and routes to use in an emergency.

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My team is working now with countries

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to reveal these pathways for COVID vaccines,

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so using sensor data for identifying the best vaccine sites

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in terms of temperature control.

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In turn, these sites can then serve as a backbone for all vaccine delivery.

04:39

Now and in the future.

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So here's what I've learned.

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Sensor data can change the game

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by providing a common source of ground truth

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that enables coordinated action required to maintain lifesaving equipment.

04:58

Not just vaccine fridges

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but any equipment deployed to save lives,

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from solar panels on hospitals to ventilators and oxygen tanks.

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But in order to realize these benefits,

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we need to invest in data

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and ensure that local communities and countries

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are in the driver's seat

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and that they have access to the resources they need

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to act on what their data is telling them.

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It's worth it.

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I know, because I have seen how the same tech can be used to measure,

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solve big problems and sustain those solutions.

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Just as my friends in Bangladesh were right to expect all along.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)