The New Incentives – All Babies Are Equal (NI-ABAE), an NGO, said it provided N4.7 billion cash incentives to 1.8 million caregivers in northern part of the country, to increase childhood vaccination rates in 2023.

The Operations Coordinator, Mubarak Bawa, disclosed this during a joint states stakeholders’ meeting in Kano on Saturday.

He said, “The project provides cash incentives to caregivers in northern Nigeria to increase childhood vaccination rates.

“When caregivers bring their infant in for routine immunizations, we provide a small cash incentive and information about the importance of vaccinations.

“The programme operates in government clinics in partnership with the state, local governments and immunization partners.

“So far we have recorded 1,838,981 enrollments from 163 local government areas covering 48,795 settlements and 5,240 clinics.

According him, they also recorded 346,521 disbursement sessions, over six million disbursements, 23 million vaccines encouraged and an amount of N4.7 billion.

Also, the Kano State Routine Immunization Focal Person, Mukhtar Abubakar, said that at the state level, the programme had significantly improved the uptake of routine immunization.

According to him, their indices are very low in routine immunization but now, it has increased, improving in all facilities.

Some of the participants in their presentations, acknowledged an increase in the number of communities and health facilities reached, cash disbursed, and challenges encountered.

They also reported significant increase in the number of mothers bringing their children for vaccination in their various areas.

New Incentives is an NGO that operates in Nigeria, running a conditional cash transfer (CCT) programme.

They aim to increase infantile vaccination through cash transfers, raising public awareness and reducing the frequency of vaccine stockout.

The implementing and participating states are Kano, Jigawa, Sokoto, Taraba, Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Adamawa, Gombe and Bauchi and also some states from the Northeast. NAN