New Incentives is a

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

(NGO) that operates in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, running a conditional cash transfer (CCT) program. They aim to increase infantile vaccination through cash transfers, raising public awareness and reducing the frequency of vaccine stockout. In Nigeria, New Incentives is known as the All Babies Are Equal (ABAE) Initiative, due to the name New Incentives not being accepted for registration. The organization is sometimes referred to as NI-ABAE. In November 2020 the charity evaluator

GiveWell GiveWell is an American non-profit charity assessment and effective altruism-focused organization. GiveWell focuses primarily on the cost-effectiveness of the organizations that it evaluates, rather than traditional metrics such as the percent ...

listed New Incentives as one of its top nine charities.

History

New Incentives was founded in 2011 by Patrick Stadler, Pratyush Agarwal, and Svetha Janumpalli.

HIV prevention HIV prevention refers to practices that aim to prevent the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV prevention practices may be undertaken by individuals to protect their own health and the health of those in their community, or may ...

was originally at the heart of their strategy. Women could receive cash transfers upon registration of their pregnancy, HIV testing and birth delivery at hospital. Other at risk-pregnancies were later included, such as

anemia Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, th ...

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), poor appetite, vomiting, tiredness, abdominal pa ...

and

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

. New incentives now focuses on immunisation of under-five children.

Operations

The New Incentives CCT program is run in North West Nigeria in the states of

Jigawa Jigawa State (Hausa: ''Jihar Jigawa'' (Fula Leydi Jigawa 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤮𞤤 𞤶𞤭𞤺𞤢𞤱𞤢) is one of the 36 states of Nigeria, located in the northern region of the country. Created in 1991 from the northeastern-most region of Kan ...

Katsina Katsina, likely from "Tamashek" eaning son or bloodor mazza enwith "inna" otheris a Local Government Area and the capital city of Katsina State, in northern Nigeria.

and

Zamfara Zamfara (Hausa: Jihar Zamfara Fula: Leydi Zamfara 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤶𞤢𞤥𞤬𞤢𞤪𞤢) is a state in northwestern Nigeria. The capital of Zamfara state is Gusau and its current Governor is Bello Matawalle. Until 1996, the area was ...

. This region has one of the lowest vaccination coverages in the world, less than 25% of the infants are vaccinated. As of february 2021 Nigeria has an under-five mortality rate of 117.2 per 1000 live births, the highest in the world. Of these children about 40% died from vaccine-preventable diseases like pneumonia, diarrhea and measles. The under five child mortality rate differs from state to state, with Kebbi having the highest (252 deaths per 1000), Ogun having the lowest (30 deaths per 1000), and the North West region having the highest regional rate at 187 deaths per 1000 according to the Nigeria Demographic and Health survey from 2018. The cash transfers from New Incentives are conditioned by the vaccination of infants with the

BCG vaccine Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine is a vaccine primarily used against tuberculosis (TB). It is named after its inventors Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin. In countries where tuberculosis or leprosy is common, one dose is recommended ...

, the

pentavalent vaccine A pentavalent vaccine, also known as a 5-in-1 vaccine, is a combination vaccine with five individual vaccines conjugated into one. Pentavalent vaccine frequently refers to the 5-in-1 vaccine protecting against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, ...

, the

pneumococcal conjugate vaccine Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is a pneumococcal vaccine and a conjugate vaccine used to protect infants, young children, and adults against disease caused by the bacterium ''Streptococcus pneumoniae'' (pneumococcus). It contains purified capsul ...

and the

meningococcal vaccine Meningococcal vaccine refers to any vaccine used to prevent infection by ''Neisseria meningitidis''. Different versions are effective against some or all of the following types of meningococcus: A, B, C, W-135, and Y. The vaccines are between 85 ...

, which immunize them against

measles Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...

pneumococcal infection A pneumococcal infection is an infection caused by the bacterium ''Streptococcus pneumoniae'', which is also called the pneumococcus. ''S. pneumoniae'' is a common member of the bacterial flora colonizing the nose and throat of 5–10% of healthy ...

and

hepatitis B Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the ''Hepatitis B virus'' (HBV) that affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. It can cause both acute and chronic infection. Many people have no symptoms during an initial infection. Fo ...

, among others. Other activities include improving the supply chain of vaccines and vaccine information campaigns.

Effectiveness

randomized control trial A randomized controlled trial (or randomized control trial; RCT) is a form of scientific experiment used to control factors not under direct experimental control. Examples of RCTs are clinical trials that compare the effects of drugs, surgical te ...

conducted by IDInsight between July 2017 and February 2020 in North West Nigeria showed that children in NI-ABAE areas were 27% more likely to be fully vaccinated. In a paper published in 2005 aiming to determine the most cost effective child health interventions in sub-Saharan Africa, immunization was deemed one of the most effective interventions, after micronutrient supplementation. In November 2020 the charity evaluator GiveWell listed New Incentives as one of its top nine charities. This evaluation was partly based on the randomized control trial conducted by IDInsight as well as on what they perceive to be the program’s cost-effectiveness, transparency and room for growth. However, some weaknesses were still underlined by GiveWell, regarding the early stage of development and potential governmental opposition.

References

{{reflist Non-governmental organizations Vaccination-related organizations