Project Report: Smart Time Temperature Indicator

The cold chain is a key process in many medical, humanitarian, organisations. It encompasses the transport, handling and storage of temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals (medicines, vaccines and lab-tests) in their journey from manufacturer to medical facility. These pharmaceuticals have to be kept within a certain temperature range (often between 2 and 8°C) to ensure their quality, efficiency and safety. What temperatures an item can survive, and for how long, depends on the product: some are more heat - or freeze-stable than others.

Despite several measures, including the development of protocols on handling and using time-temperature indicators, humanitarian organisations continue to encounter difficulties with the proper monitoring of cold chain items. This results in uncertain quality of items at the point of use, which is why MSF’s Operational Centre Amsterdam (OCA) asked the Swedish Innovation Unit (SIU) to identify new tools that could provide a better indication of the quality of items throughout the complete cold chain process. Although this project was initiated and carried out by OCA, many of the challenges are also encountered by other OC’s, and NGOs.