Nasiru Yusuf

New Incentive Enroll Over 450,000 Infants for Immunization, Expends 1.2 Billion in Nigeria as All Babies Are Equal (ABAE) said the program which aim to reduce child mortality through cost-effective and evidence-based health intervention said it has enrolled over 450,000 infants whose caregivers have received over 1.2 billion naira in conditional cash transfer between 2017 to date.

KANO FOCUS reports that ABAE disburses cash incentives to caregivers conditional on infants receiving five vaccines: BCG (against tuberculosis), PENTA (against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type b), PCV (against pneumococcal disease), and MCV 1&2 (against measles).

As a result of the cash transfers which compensate for transport, lost trading income, and waiting time while creating behavioural change through awareness of routine immunizations, an independent impact assessment of NI-ABAE’s CCTs for RI program (2017 – 2020) found that the program increases the likelihood that children would be fully immunized by 27 percentage points, and increases rates of individual vaccinations by 14 to 21 percentage points.

In a communique issued on the recent visit of the National Partners of New Incentive-All Babies Are Equal Initiative monitoring visit to Katsina and Jigawa it said, beyond vaccination, the assessment found that the program contributed to improved knowledge about vaccination among caregivers in the catchment areas served by the program.

The NGO’s partnerships with relevant Government agencies in the health sector both at national, state and local government levels, help to improve demand generation for routine immunization and other supply-side supports for the routine immunization system.

And that NI-ABAE has received commitments of over $29 million of funding over the next 3 years to reach over 1 million caregivers and their infants in Jigawa, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Bauchi,Gombe and Kano States.

This covers expansion to 65 LGAs inclusive of the current 27 intervening LGAs with continued operations through December 2024.

Resolutions contained in the communique signed on the 10th day of February 2022 by:

Edward Iyamu – Senior Scientific Officer Child Health Division, Federal Ministry of Health

Adetokunboh Aderoju – National Co-responsibility Officer, National Cash Transfer Office.

Gabriel Ikechuckwu – Monitoring and Evaluation Division Federal Ministry of Health

Ugwuegbu Ifeoma Augustina. – Chief Health Education Officer Health Promotion Division Federal Ministry of Health

Zara Shettima- Assistant Chief Executive Officer (General Duty) – Research and Knowledge Management Division Federal Ministry of Health and others reads;

“The New Incentives – All Babies Are Equal Initiative will continue to align its programs and policies including routine immunization plans and priorities with the Government of Nigeria at all levels.

Immunization is one of the most effective public health interventions, saving 2 to 3 million lives yearly (WHO). Evidence suggests that a 27 percentage points increase in the likelihood that children will be fully immunized by a Conditional Cash Transfer for routine immunization program (NI-ABAE RCT Impact Assessment 2017-2020).

The New Incentives – All Babies Are Equal Initiative will continue to support demand creation and other components of routine immunization in the 5 States and by proxy at the national level.

New Incentives – All Babies Are Equal Initiative will continue to provide transparent and regular updates to all stakeholders and also provide support on routine immunization, health, and social protection.

The Government of Nigeria(GoN) shall continue to provide the enabling environment to the NI-ABAE program at all levels, provide the needed support to ensure the expansion of the NI-ABAE program, ensure adequate vaccine supply and human resources for health in all health facilities.

The GoN shall engage all relevant state actors to ensure successful Conditional Cash Transfer programming, accountability among health workers including proper reporting of vaccine utilisation and routine immunization coverage.

States to adopt and adapt Models demonstrated by Katsina & Jigawa to scale-up RI intervention”.