A research study on the impact of pneumococcal vaccine in Kenya shows data-mining electronic medical records is vital to transforming health care

Early one cloudless morning, Oscar Kai was perched on a Yamaha motorcycle clutching his laptop to his chest as he bumped along a dirt road past groves of coconut palms and fields of corn.

He was on his way to a makeshift clinic deep in the Kenyan countryside that is one of 33 taking part in a unique digital study here mapping the success of a new vaccine to help beat childhood illnesses. A 20-minute ride later – a distance that would take a woman carrying her baby on foot more than two hours – Mr Kai, 28, set up his laptop on a desk in one of three tin-roofed classrooms at Ngamani Primary School.