No child should die of preventable disease

New Incentives offers conditional cash transfers to encourage caregivers to vaccinate their children. These small cash incentives are a proven, cost-effective way to boost vaccination rates and save lives.

People living in poverty or in remote, rural areas often face significant barriers to accessing healthcare. In Nigeria, routine childhood vaccinations are provided at government clinics free of charge, but caregivers often find it difficult to afford transportation and face other challenges to taking their baby to a clinic – often half a day’s trip away or longer. These round-trip journeys to the clinic must be made six times to complete a childhood routine vaccination schedule, all within the first year of a baby’s life.

These and other barriers contribute to low vaccination rates: in some areas of Nigeria, only ~1/4 of babies are fully vaccinated. This, in turn, increases child mortality. Around 40% of children who die before the age of five are killed by vaccine preventable diseases.

Offering a monetarily small, yet significant, incentive – which covers the cost of transportation to a clinic plus food – provides enough of a “nudge” to overcome the barriers to vaccination. Indeed, an independent RCT found that New Incentives’ program doubled the number of babies who were fully vaccinated, with life-saving benefits.