From Abdullahi Jalaluddeen
The National Coordinator of a Non-Governmental Organization, New Incentives:All Babies are Equal Initiative, Dr Obinna Ebirim says giving incentives to mothers who take their babies for immunization is a major tool in increasing the acceptability of Vaccination by parents, especially in rural areas.
Dr Ebirim stated this during a one-day training in Kano for executives and other stakeholders drawn from the three states where the initiative is currently taking place.
He said the initiative was currently working in three states which include Katsina , Jigawa and Zamfara states.
“We are in Kano to conduct a joint stakeholder meeting of the three states where we operate. We felt it is important to bring the Stakeholders together and inform them about the successes, challenges and way forward,” he said.
The Coordinator said, from 2017 to date, the Organization was able to enrol over three hundred thousand beneficiaries, saying the sum of nine hundred million Naira had been disbursed under the initiative.
Dr Ebirim added that the NGO in the last three years was able to cover only 98 clinics in the three states, but currently covering 450 clinics.
In a remark, Katsina State Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Yakubu Nuhu said the initiative of giving incentives to mothers with the aim of encouraging them to bring their babies for immunization was great, and since the inception of the initiative, great successes have been achieved.
“We’ve seen some changes in the indices, by giving just a token of five hundred naira each to mothers for the first four immunizations and during the fifth immunization, a token of two thousand naira. It had boosted the morale of mother’s in bringing their babies for immunization,” he said.
The Commissioner noted that Katsina State Government was working assiduously in providing incentives to pregnant women who go to Government Hospitals for delivery, aimed at having successful delivery.
The meeting was attended by heads of Health Agencies from the three states and other Stakeholders.