Project to pay N500 for each vaccine Jigawa infants get

Some 110,000 infants in Jigawa have been enrolled in a conditional cash transfer programme that will pay caregivers for each vaccine children receive in efforts to boost immunsiation coverage.

The cash-for-immunisation programme will pay caregivers of infants N500 for each of the first four visits to health centres for routine immunisation.

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It will also pay N2,000 for the first routine immunisation visit.

More than N327 million in direct cash transfers has been provided for the programme New Initiatives – All Babies Are Equal Initiative (NI-ABAE), according to its stakeholders relations director Nura Muhammad.

Speaking when the group paid a courtesy call on the Jigawa state Governor Abubakar Badaru, Nura said NI-ABAE is providing cash to mothers as incentives to encourage them to take their children for routine Immunization.

‘There is strong evidence that our intervention is making a significant impact in increasing demand for routine immunization in the communities where we work,” he said.

“Considering the impact of the initiative at four selected pilot local governments in Jigawa state, we urge you to advocate and promote the “Cash Transfer Incentive for Routine Immunization” programme at Nigerian Governors Forum,” he said.

Revealing further the success story of the NGO, Nura said it was named a GiveWell Top Charity in November 2020 and based on the recommendation of GiveWell, it is being funded to the tune of $16.8 million USD over the next 3 years to reach more than 600,000 caregivers and their infants in Jigawa, Katsina, and Zamfara States.

Acknowledging the successes recorded in increasing immunization coverage and reducing infant deaths from vaccine preventable diseases in Jigawa State, Gov. Badaru Abubakar has pledged to support the programme.

The governor who said Jigawa’s current immunisation coverage is 45% at the national level, noted that, “If at the national we have to increase that level, this initiative will help us with some more.