By Hassan Turaki
An NGO, New Incentives-All Babies Are Equal (NI-ABAE), has presented cash awards to five best performing local government councils of Jigawa in Routine Immunisation (RI) in 2023.
Speaking at the event in Dutse Mr Ahmad Liadi, the NGO’s Operations Coordinator, said that available data had shown that rewarding people for their effort, had helped in boosting their morale.
He said that such gesture had led to a greater productivity and efficiency in working toward their common goals.
Liadi said that the award ceremony afforded NI-ABAE and the state, the opportunity to recognize and appreciate their contributions, dedication and commitment in increasing childhood immunization rate and saving lives.
He expressed the hope that the gesture would encourage an increase in collaboration, with the state, while assuring that the minimum operation procedures of the program were maintained and enforced.
“Let me introduce the different award categories that will be presented today; the first set of awards will be presented to LGAs based on five categories.
‘’ That’s vaccine supply, enrollments, penta retention rate, activities and documentation. Each awarded LGA will receive N150,000.
“Also, a special recognition award will be presented to the 3 best-performing LGAs in the state. These LGAs are chosen by the state and each LGA will receive N300,000 in-kind allocation to strengthen the health system.
‘’ Such as clinic renovations, provision of equipment and LGA cold room renovation,’’ he said.
“An award for state officials will be given. These stakeholders are selected for their outstanding efforts and service to improve routine immunizations and will be provided with a 700,000 in-kind budget to strengthen the health system.
“Finally, an award will be given to the best NI-ABAE manager in the state. This individual is chosen, based on enrollments, immunization rate, activities and Stakeholder engagement. They will receive an award of N30,000,” he said.
The benefiting LGCs are Babura, Gwaram, Hadejia, Suletankarkar and Miga.
Earlier, the NGO’s Stakeholder Relations Director, Mr Nura Muhammad, said that it obtained funding in 2017 to expand its pilot program from 10 clinics to 98 clinics.
‘’ To participate in a random controlled trial to evaluate the impact of cash incentives on routine childhood vaccination rates in Zamfara, Katsina, and Jigawa.
“In December 2018, we came together and celebrated our 100,000 enrollment across all the three states.
Read Also: Jigawa CP, Team Visit Family of Woman Assassinated in Capital City
“In 2020, ID insight published the findings from the RCT, showing that the program had a substantial impact, including 108% increase in full vaccination coverage, 62% increase in timely measles, 1 vaccine, 180% increase in clinics while avoiding stockouts entirely.
“At this point, GiveWell named New Incentives a top charity and we began expanding the All Babies program,” he said.
Muhammad said that at the beginning of 2021, the All Babies program was operating in 98 clinics, and by the end of the year, it had expanded to 986 clinics across the three participating states.
The Director said that the All Babies program expanded to Bauchi, Gombe, and Sokoto, covering over 2,000 clinics by the middle of 2021.
According to him, in October, 2022, the NGO celebrated enrolling more infants than in all previous years combined, while in mid December, we celebrated enrolling 1 million infants in the program.
Read Also: Man, 21, arrested for solar panel vandalization in Jigawa
“In 2023, the All Babies program continued its expansion to Kano, Kaduna, and Kebbi and then enrolled its 2 million infants in September.
“As of January 2024, the All Babies program has enrolled more than 618,000 infants in Jigawa alone, distributing over 2.1 billion naira to caregivers, and encouraging more than 8.7 million vaccines,” the Director said.
He said that across the participating states, the All Babies program had enrolled more than 2.7 million infants, disbursing over 8.4 billion naira, and encouraging more than 34 million vaccines.
“We look forward to our continued partnership with the state of Jigawa and its LGAs as we, together, work to increase awareness about the importance of routine immunizations and encourage each and every caregiver to bring their children for vaccination,” Muhammad said.
In his remarks, the Director, Jigawa State Primary Healthcare, Dr Shehu Sambo, commended the NGO for supporting routine immunisation in the state.
Sambo said that the cash incentives given to mothers and caregivers by the NGO had increased the number of children and babies taking routine immunisation.
On his part, the Special Assistant to Gov. Umar Namadi on Primary Healthcare, Alhaji Babangida Lawan, lauded the NGO for the gesture, saying that, it would go along way in motivating the participating Councils and ginger others to emulate.
