From Olanrewaju Lawal, Birnin Kebbi
The New Initiative (NI), a Non- Governmental Organization (NGO) has flagged off conditional cash transfer to caregivers in order to enhance routine immunisation in Kebbi.
The NI is a US-based nonprofit committed to implementing health-related cash transfer programs to save lives in developing countries.
While inaugurating the programme in Maiyama LGA, Alhaji Mubarak Bawa, the Head of operations of the initiative, said that the program was supported by New Incentives through the State Primary Health Care Agency (PHCA).
According to him,”,the NI gives pregnant women with at-risk pregnancies conditional cash transfers, which encourage them to follow medical advice and treatment so that their children are born healthy.
“As you may already know, the NI-ABAE program has been in operations in Katsina and Zamfara States since 2017, Jigawa since 2018, Sokoto, Bauchi, and Gombe in 2022 with support from the government.
“Now, we are proud to extend our services to Kebbi State,” he said.
Bawa revealed that the program in operating states increased demand for routine immunization through a package of evidence-based interventions including community mobilization, sensitization, conditional cash transfer (CCT), and defaulter tracking.
“We provide stipend to all caregivers that bring their children for immunization to cater for transportation or upset the loss of income due to the waiting time at the clinic for those doing small business in their various homes.
“We also support the RI system by engaging in vaccine supply review, supporting top-up vaccine transportation, participating in supportive supervision, funding health worker training, and conducting advocacy to religious and traditional leaders,” he said.
Bawa added that the program also included monitoring and evaluation with dashboards and ongoing monitoring through rapid assessments.
“With these measures in place, we are confident that we will be able to increase demand for routine immunization and reduce the number of vaccine-preventable diseases in the state,” Bawa said.
In her remarks, the Wife of Kebbi Governor, Hajiya Nafisa Idris, urged women to avail themselves with the opportunity to compliment the state government’s efforts in promoting healthcare service of their children.
“This is an opportunity for mothers to come and avail yourselves with this golden opportunity to immunise your children against child killer diseases.
” Stipend is given to you in every visit with your children; and is an opportunity even of you are into business, you can still visit healthcare facility for a day and no loss will be incurred as you will have stipend,” she enjoined.
Idris, represented by the Wife of Deputy Gov. Hajiya Aisha Umar-Tafida, thanked the NGO for the gesture ,while expressing the state government’s commitment to providing good healthcare service to the people of the state.