Cash incentive for vaccines with New Incentives

Routine childhood vaccines are already free at clinics across northern Nigeria. The obstacle is getting an infant to the clinic six separate times: the trip costs money and a day's work, and the benefit is invisible because it is a disease that never happens. This program closes that gap by paying caregivers a small amount each time they complete a visit.

The work has three parts that have to happen together. Field staff run awareness sessions in the community, explaining both the value of immunization and the existence of the payments. They work on the vaccine supply chain, because an incentive to attend a clinic is worthless if the clinic has run out of doses. And they disburse the transfers themselves, up to about 11 USD spread across six clinic visits.

The charity that runs it is New Incentives, which operates in Nigeria as the All Babies Are Equal Initiative.

The program is cheap because it does not pay for the vaccines, the clinics or the health workers. All of that already exists. It pays only for the marginal nudge that converts an intention into six completed visits, which is why it has been assessed as one of the most cost-effective ways to avert a child's death currently available to donors.

A gift through Rethink Charity comes with an official Canadian donation receipt. Monthly giving suits this program particularly well, since clinic outreach runs continuously rather than in campaign seasons. See how it works if this is your first donation with us.