Health authorities in Bauchi, Jigawa, Katsina, Sokoto, Gombe and Zamfara states have agreed to adopt conditional cash transfer to encourage parents and guardians to take children for routine immunisation against killer diseases to save lives of infants.
Parents and caregivers across the six states will receive cash support to augment lost hours and earnings missed for taking babies between 6 to 15 weeks to receive BCG immunisation.
This is contained in a statement issued at the end of the Joint Stakeholders Meeting organised by Primary Health Care Development Agencies of the concerned states bordering on New Incentives All Babies Are Equal (NI-ABAE).
“NI-ABAE encourages each round of vaccines to be included in Nigeria’s Routine Immunization schedule. Small cash incentives are disbursed to caregivers during each of the six routine immunization visits, conditional on infants receiving BCG (newborn); PENTA and PCV (6, 10, and 14 weeks); and MCV vaccines (9 and 15 months).
- “Though these vaccines are the ones minimally required to receive the incentive, all vaccinations in the routine immunization schedule are encouraged. The Caregiver receives ₦500 for all visits except for the 9-month visit where the incentive is ₦2,000 upon receiving MCV 1.
“These vaccinations are provided at no cost to the caregiver through government-supported clinics. The cash incentives help compensate for transportation cost, lost income, and waiting times while creating behavioural change through awareness creation on the benefits of immunizations,” the communique read in part.
