Health Projects Win $200,000 Grant to Tackle Vaccine Gaps in Nigeria and Ethiopia.

Keep up with the latest news and be part of our weekly giveaways and airtime sharing; follow our WhatsApp channel for more updates. Click to Follow us

The Save the Children Immunization Accelerator, funded by GSK, has awarded two innovation projects to address the pressing issue of low vaccination rates in Nigeria and Ethiopia. 

An estimated 2.1 million children in Nigeria and almost one million in Ethiopia have never received a routine vaccination, earning them the label of “zero dose” children.

Launched in April 2024, the Accelerator aims to empower local organizations and fast-track cutting-edge solutions to improve vaccination rates. After a call for submissions, two projects were selected from 120 entries, with a panel of global health experts making the final decision.

The chosen projects are:

– The Centre for Integrated Health Programs (CIHP): A Nigeria-based NGO that has developed a social and behavior change model using a “positive deviance” approach. This approach involves caregivers sharing their experiences of overcoming barriers to vaccination.

– HABTech Solutions PLC: An Ethiopia-based company that has created a digital innovation leveraging data analytics and visualization to enhance decision-making and address zero-dose immunization challenges.

Both organizations will receive technical and financial support from Save the Children, including a grant of almost $100,000 each. Dr. Bolanle Oyeledun, CEO of CIHP, said: “Our innovation will leverage lessons learned from our novel positive deviance approach to address caregiver-driven vaccine hesitancy in northern Nigeria.”

Adane Letta Mamuye, General Manager at HABTech, added: “Our innovation empowers stakeholders to create data-driven interventions for children who have not received any vaccines by identifying hard-to-reach communities frequently overlooked by traditional immunization efforts, tracking vaccine shortages and supply issues, and ensuring precise mapping and identification of zero-dose children. By leveraging advanced data analytics, we aim to enhance the use of data for informed decision-making, enabling tailored interventions that address specific gaps in immunization coverage. With the support of the accelerator, we will carry out a thorough pilot implementation and evaluation to showcase how our proposed system can lead to improved vaccination outcomes.

Ermias Teshome, Save the Children Immunization Accelerator Lead, emphasized: “Every child deserves access to life-saving vaccinations. The urgent challenges in child immunization require locally led, innovative solutions… Through our Immunization Accelerator, we are excited to support their journey in transforming immunization outcomes for children in Ethiopia, Nigeria, and beyond.”

These innovations will be piloted in conjunction with vaccination programs run by Save the Children in partnership with GSK in Ethiopia and Nigeria, with the ultimate goal of creating a world where no child suffers from a vaccine-preventable disease.

Please don’t forget to “allow the notification” so you will be the first to get our gist when we publish it. 
Drop your comment in the section below, and don’t forget to share the post.