Overview – Introduction to SMILE Health

The Electronic Health Inventory and Logistics Monitoring System (SMILE) was initially developed to support vaccine distribution and logistics for routine immunization programmes in Indonesia. As a digital solution, SMILE streamlines national health logistics systems to ensure the availability and equitable distribution of vaccines and medicines across the country.

The effectiveness of SMILE was clearly demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the system enabled the rapid distribution of hundreds of millions of vaccine doses to regions nationwide, significantly strengthening Indonesia’s response to the health crisis.

Beyond immunization, SMILE has expanded to support additional health programmes. In March 2024, SMILE was piloted for the rabies programme in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) and subsequently scaled nationwide starting in August 2024. Today, the platform supports multiple health commodities, including those for tuberculosis, HIV, malaria, rabies, and medical waste management.

Currently, SMILE manages more than 800 million vaccine doses and 100 million medicine doses across over 10,000 healthcare facilities in 38 provinces in Indonesia. The system provides end-to-end visibility across the health supply chain, from storage and inventory management to distribution and reporting.

In 2022, an economic impact study demonstrated the significant value generated by SMILE. With an investment of USD 20 million, the system produced an estimated return of nearly USD 60 million, equivalent to 2.77 times the initial investment for the immunization programme alone. SMILE also prevents potential losses due to temperature excursions, estimated at up to USD 32,600 per month per healthcare facility, highlighting the critical role of real-time cold chain monitoring. The study further provides guidance for digital transformation across other health programmes, including financing through local and national budgets.

SMILE delivers the following key capabilities:

• Monitors vaccine and medicine storage temperatures

• Manages vaccine and medicine inventory accurately

• Supports distribution to remote and hard-to-reach areas

• Automatically generates periodic reports

• Records comprehensive storage and logistics data

SMILE has now become a national health logistics management model with a positive impact not only on the health sector but also on the broader economy, improving efficiency, transparency, and accountability across multiple levels of government.