Over three million infants and nursing mothers in northern Nigeria have received cash incentives to boost vaccine uptake in the region.
This was disclosed by the Operations Coordinator of the New Incentives All Babies are Equal programme, Mubarak Bawa. The Coordinator stated this during a State and Local Government Area award ceremony held over the weekend in Kano. The event was used to honour outstanding individuals in the State.
Speaking at the ceremony, Bawa said the programme spans nine States and over 48,000 settlements in the region. He pointed that programme will enroll over three million infants.
The Coordinator said the programme has demonstrated significant effectiveness in reducing under-5 morbidity and mortality. It has also increased the percentage of fully immunized infants, and raised awareness about the importance of vaccinations.
Bawa stated that in Kano State, the programme operates in over 90 per cent of Government-owned hospitals. And it provides routine immunization across the 44 LGAs.
According to report, five Local Government Areas in Sokoto State have been honoured for their outstanding performance in routine immunization in 2023.
These are; Illela LGA that received the Best Enrolment Award. Binji LGA was recognized with the Panta Retention Award, and Tambuwal LGA secured the Best Immunization Activities Award.
“Gwadabawa LGA was awarded for Best Vaccine Supply. While Sokoto-North LGA earned the Best Documentation Award.
Speaking at the event, the Operation Coordinator of New Incentives/All Babies Are Equal in Sokoto, Ibrahim Rabi’u, stated the impact of cash incentives. He said the financial incentives provided to mothers, resulted in the enrolment of an additional 118,000 babies in routine immunization programmes in the State.
Rabi’u said N346 million had been disbursed across 18 out of the 23 LGAs. He also noted that the incentives facilitated over 1.5 million vaccinations in Sokoto State.
The Executive Secretary of the Sokoto State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Larai Tambuwal, commended New Incentives. He thanked them for their support and urged them to extend their intervention to hard-to-reach areas affected by poor terrain and insecurity.
In recognition of their achievements, each of the award winning LGAs were presented with cheque of N150, 000.
source: Daily Post
