PM Modi To Address CoWin Global Summit Today As India Offers CoWin Platform To The World

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing the CoWin Global Conclave today (5 July), where India will be offering CoWIN as a digital public good to the world to combat COVID19, reports India Today.

"We are elated to announce that Hon'ble PM @narendramodi would be sharing his thoughts on #CoWINGlobalConclave as India offers #CoWIN as a digital public good to the world to combat #COVID19," the NHA said in a tweet.

Around 50 countries from across Central Asia, Latin America and Africa have shown interest in using the platform, Dr RS Sharma, the CEO of the National Health Authority (NHA), had said recently.

He said that Prime Minister’s Office has directed to create an open-source version of CoWIN to be provided free of cost to any other country. In an event, Sharma had said, “We are telling this world how this system can work and how we are ready to share an open source software with any country free of cost.”

The Health Ministry along with External Affairs Ministry and National Health Authority is organising the virtual CoWIN Global Conclave in order to facilitate the learning of CoWIN platform.

The virtual summit will be inaugurated by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan. Others expected to speak at the event include Foreign Secretary HV Shringla, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and Sharma.

The CoWIN platform is useds to drive India's Covid-19 vaccine registration and appointment booking for all adults aged above 18. It also provides a comprehensive dashboard detailing the breakup of total inoculations carried out so far across states, demographics, genders, and vaccine types.

The platform was developed by the Indian government, and was launched in January this year to handle the world’s largest vaccination drive. The government carried out several dry runs to test the application, and then trained thousands of personnel to use it. In late December 2020, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had announced a grand challenge for strengthening the CoWIN.