VaxCess

CHILD IMMUNIZATION CHALLENGE; Ghana

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Routine childhood immunizations

Learn more about the Immunization Challenge and how Increasing routine childhood immunization rates in low-coverage areas could prevent millions of childhood deaths.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

VaxCess combines cash incentives, QR-coded tracking, and localized voice reminder system, to boost vaccination uptake and completion of childhood immunization schedules in underserved communities.

The VaxCess model combines modest cash incentives with QR-coded tracking and automated voice reminders to help caregivers overcome financial and logistical barriers to completing immunization schedules. The 3-month pilot will enroll 100 caregivers in the central sub-metro area of the Tamale Metropolitan District in Northern Ghana, directly supporting their children’s vaccination journeys. What sets VaxCess apart is its unique integration of incentives and technology to address demand-side barriers in a context where most interventions focus only on supply.

VaxCess is founded by Chelsea Mambora Yamyia, a health systems and policy researcher from Ghana with expertise in implementation science, equity-focused interventions, and maternal and child health. Chelsea has led and supported multiple health projects, including randomized controlled trials, GIS-based health access studies, and digital health policy research.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Directly reach 100 caregivers

• Deliver 600+ vaccine doses

• Fundraise an additional $15,000 USD from new donors and investors

FOUNDING TEAM

Chelsea Mambora Yamyia - Founder

Taasa-Abato Health Link

CHILD IMMUNIZATION CHALLENGE; Uganda

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Routine childhood immunizations

Learn more about the Immunization Challenge and how Increasing routine childhood immunization rates in low-coverage areas could prevent millions of childhood deaths.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Taasa-Abato Health link is focused on improving child immunization uptake in slums/ urban-poor communities in Kampala district, which have been observed to have low uptake, high drop-out rates/missed doses and vaccine hesitancy despite the availability of free and safe vaccines in public health facilities around them.

Taasa-Abato Health Link is set to implement the pilot program in the slums of Rubaga division, Kampala. The initiative will apply four strategies which will include awareness creation through health education at the household level and antenatal and postnatal service points in public health facilities.

The second strategy will be client identification by village health teams (VHTs) who will review child health cards of infants and toddlers during door-to-door visits.

Thirdly, there will be the use of SMS and phone calls as reminders to caregivers on the next immunization appointment for their children, and finally provision of cash incentives to ease economic barriers to immunization uptake, which is a unique strategy proven to attract program acceptance in low-income settings, yet it hasn’t been adopted by most implementing partners in Uganda.

Taasa-Abato Health Link was founded by Magero Victoria and Mwesigye Emmanuel. Victoria serves as the Program Implementation Manager overseeing the technical aspects, while Emmanuel is in charge of Monitoring and Evaluating the implementation process.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Mobilize the parents/caregivers of 300 children in Rubaga division, Kampala district, to complete routine immunisations for their children

• Send 3000 USD worth of cash incentives to caregivers upon taking their children for routine immunisation, and send out 1000 SMS reminders for immunization appointments.

• Raise additional funding of $5000 by the end of 3 months.

FOUNDING TEAM

Victoria Magero - Founder, Program Implementation Manager

Emmanuel Mwesigye - Co-Founder, M&E

ChildVax

CHILD IMMUNIZATION CHALLENGE; UGANDA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Routine childhood immunizations

Learn more about the Immunization Challenge and how Increasing routine childhood immunization rates in low-coverage areas could prevent millions of childhood deaths.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

ChildVax aims to increase childhood immunization coverage in Uganda.

ChildVax shall increase childhood vaccination coverage in Bukwo district by creating a network of Village Health Teams (VHTs) and providing transport refunds to financially disadvantaged caregivers. ChildVax shall conduct a thorough needs assessment in Bukwo district to identify areas with the lowest vaccination coverage rates and the primary reasons for this, recruit and select dedicated individuals from local communities to serve as VHT members and train them.

VHTs should work closely with the local community to identify caregivers who are financially disadvantaged and unable to afford transportation costs for vaccination visits. ChildVax shall develop a reminder system that sends text messages or makes phone calls to all caregivers a few days before their child's vaccination appointment.

Once the program proves successful in Bukwo district, the team will develop a plan to expand it to neighboring regions with low vaccination coverage, seek partnerships with governmental and non-governmental organizations to scale the program to a national level.

ChildVax was founded in 2022 by a dedicated team consisting of Yeko Olive, a seasoned nurse specializing in childhood immunization, Dr. Ivan Chemos, with vast experience in managing immunization projects, and Chepkwurui Abigail, an experienced financial manager.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Reach 500 beneficiaries/ children in the 3 month pilot period.

• Send 5000 reminder text messages to care givers for immunization.

• Raise additional funding of $50000 by the end of 3 months.

FOUNDING TEAM

Olive Yeko - Program Manager

Dr. Ivan Chemos - Technical Advisor

Abigail Chepkwurui - Operations Manager

Nomad Child Trust

CHILD IMMUNIZATION CHALLENGE; KENYA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Routine childhood immunizations

Learn more about the Immunization Challenge and how Increasing routine childhood immunization rates in low-coverage areas could prevent millions of childhood deaths.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Nomad Child Trust addresses vaccine inequity amongst the vulnerable rural pastoral communities in Kenya.

The Vaccines on the Move model leverages local health infrastructure, conditional transport vouchers, and culturally tailored messaging to address vaccine inequity within Kenya's rural pastoral communities.

This model aims to surmount barriers hindering mothers from accessing crucial immunization services, including the challenges posed by the prolonged drought, the isolated nature of nomadic pastoralism, limited weather-adaptive healthcare initiatives, and competing resource priorities at the county level.

Nomad Child Trust was started in 2023 by Mariam, a dedicated young social work intern at Marsabit Hospital, and Hassan, a changemaker from the Borana pastoral community. Their shared concern revolved around the adverse effects of vaccine inequity among children under 5 within nomadic communities, and they observed that changing climate patterns, nomadic lifestyles, prolonged droughts, and an unresponsive public health system were exacerbating this issue.

In direct response, they founded Nomad Child Trust with a vision of a future where nomadic children have equal access to life-saving healthcare and culturally relevant education to thrive.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Directly reach 720 caregivers, potentially immunizing between 720 to 1200 children under 5 who might not have been immunized otherwise.

• 7200 mHealth reminders and information in Borana language.

• Secure funding of at least USD 10,000 from partners and investors.

FOUNDING TEAM

Mariam Masudi - Project Coordinator

Hassan Oyugi - Social Impact Officer

Cradle Care Initiative

IMMUNIZATION CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Routine childhood immunizations.

Learn more about the Immunization Challenge and how increasing routine childhood immunization rates in low-coverage areas could prevent millions of childhood deaths.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Cradle Care Initiative is based on redeeming any unacceptable high immunization dropout rate, while also reducing child mortality due to vaccine-preventable diseases.

Their model is based on the following areas:

Strategy: Advocacy, sensitization in Odukpani local government of Cross River.

Process: Use of incentives, stakeholders’ engagement, door-to-door sensitization, Building community ownership of the cause (Immunization Champions), Collaboration with Health care centers, immunization tracking tools, monitoring, and evaluation.

People: Qualified and skilled staff, partnerships, and collaborations with stakeholders.

Technology: Use of SMS reminders, production of immunization materials, and tracking tools.

Target : Mothers, Care givers, community

Cradle Care is founded by Hannah Essien and Co founded by Florence Bassey and Utibe-Abasi Bassey-Duke.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• 100 children immunized in the pilot who otherwise would not be

• 800 children immunized in year two of operations who otherwise would not be

• Fundraise an additional $15,000 USD from philanthropic organizations

FOUNDING TEAM

Hannah Essien - Founder

Florence Bassey - Co-Founder

Utibe-Abasi Bassey-Duke - Co-Founder

ChildACT

IMMUNIZATION CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Routine childhood immunizations.

Learn more about the Immunization Challenge and how increasing routine childhood immunization rates in low-coverage areas could prevent millions of childhood deaths.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

ChildACT increases routine childhood immunizations through SMS reminders to caregivers and supportive community engagement. The team envisions reaching two-thirds of Nigerian children to secure vaccinations by their first birthday.

ChildACT invests in communities through social mobilization and provides SMS reminders towards immunization of children and purposeful development. The team is motivated to realize this vision with experience in private sector efficiency, public health, and community relations. The team will mobilize stakeholders to improve and support immunization demand, while empowering caregivers through a reminder system to access immunization for children in their care.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• 1,200 children immunized in the pilot who otherwise would not be

• 5,000 SMS reminders sent during the pilot period

• Reach 20,000 beneficiaries by the end of year 1

FOUNDING TEAM

Joan Alaboson - Project Lead

Suvita

IMMUNIZATION CHALLENGE; INDIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Routine childhood immunizations.

Learn more about the Immunization Challenge and how increasing routine childhood immunization rates in low-coverage areas could prevent millions of childhood deaths.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Suvita increases uptake of immunization services to combat vaccine-preventable diseases.

Suvita identifies natural community influencers through peer nominations, and invites them to become immunization ambassadors who motivate and remind others in the community to bring their children for routine immunisations. The model complements this with customized SMS reminders direct to new parents, which follow their child's immunization schedule. These two evidence-based programmes have been shown to boost uptake of immunization in a randomised controlled trial in Haryana, India, by Nobel Laureates Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and colleagues - and the Suvita team is taking them to scale.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Establish embassadors in 50 villages, covering 5,000 eligible children during the pilot

• Raise $50,000 during the pilot

• Reach 50,000 beneficiaries by the end of year 1

FOUNDING TEAM

Varsha Venugopal - Co-founder

Fiona Conlon - Co-founder

Health Support Initiatives

IMMUNIZATION CHALLENGE; UGANDA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Routine childhood immunizations.

Learn more about the Immunization Challenge and how increasing routine childhood immunization rates in low-coverage areas could prevent millions of childhood deaths.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Health Support Initiatives contributes to the reduction of morbidity, mortality and disability due to preventable diseases by incentivizing parents and caregivers to bring children to health facilities for immunizations.

The model is centered on Conditional Cash Transfers that incentivize parents and caregivers to bring their children for immunization services at local health facilities. This project will be implemented in Mayuge District's fishing island communities, which have very low immunization rates. Immunization focal point persons will conduct outreach camps to identity children eligible for immunization.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Immunize 500 children in first three months

• Train 64 community health workers and 12 immunization focal point persons in first three months

POST-PILOT UPDATE

Measles is one of the leading causes of outbreaks among the vaccine preventable diseases. In Uganda, measles vaccine is the last vaccine to be received for completion of the immunization schedule at 9 months of age. In Uganda the coverage rate for fully immunized child is at 52%.

In the pilot, we sought to improve immunization completion rates in Mayuge District, which has one of the worst immunization indicator scores in Uganda and suffered chronic measles outbreaks. The project implemented a conditional cash transfer through a transport voucher scheme blended with dynamic community outreaches among hard-to-reach populations for the catchment population of Malongo Health center III, Mayuge district, Uganda. This facility was chosen because it has highest number of unimmunized children (2,068) and low measles coverage rates at 39%. The transport vouchers targeted children that had missed the measles vaccination while the outreaches were generalized.

During the three-month pilot, over 4,000 were reached with immunization services and 1,900 children completed their immunization schedule thus the total number of unimmunized children reduced by 94%. In addition, the annualized measles coverage increased by 18% within duration of three months.

FOUNDING TEAM

Pamela Bakkabulindi - Executive Director

Esther Anyimo - Program Coordinator

Julius Kirya - Monitoring and Evaluation Officer

Mary Etit - Finance Manager