29 Jan Innovations breaking barriers to children’s immunization in Nigeria and Ethiopia win major funding from Save the Children
19th January 2025 – The Save the Children Immunisation Accelerator, funded by GSK, has awarded two innovation projects for finding unique solutions to help more children receive vaccinations.
With an estimated 2.1 million children in Nigeria and almost one million in Ethiopia[1] classed as ‘zero dose’, having never received a routine vaccination, the Save the Children Immunization Accelerator was launched in April 2024, to empower local organizations and fast-track cutting-edge solutions. A call for submissions then invited Ethiopian and Nigerian innovators to submit proposals.
Selected from 120 submissions by a panel, including global health experts, the chosen immunisation partners are: The Centre for Integrated Health Programs (CIHP) and HABTech Solutions PLC. Both organisations will receive technical and financial support from Save the Children, including a grant of almost $100,000 each to further their work.
Nigeria based NGO CIHP has developed a social and behaviour change model, using a ‘positive deviance’ approach which involves caregivers within communities, who have successfully overcome barriers to vaccinate their children, sharing their lived experience.
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. We will work with Lagos State and its people to understand and co-creatively address challenges to low immunization uptake in urban slums especially. This funding will enable us to identify missed opportunities and close critical gaps in immunisation uptake, moving the needle toward higher vaccination coverage.”
HABTech Solutions, an Ethiopia-based company, has developed a digital innovation leveraging data analytics and visualization to enhance decision-making and address the challenges associated with zero-dose immunization in Ethiopia.
Adane Letta Mamuye, General Manager at HABTech said, “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 immunisation 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 immunisation 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 immunisation outcomes.”
Ermias Teshome, Save the Children Immunisation Accelerator Lead said: “Every child deserves access to life-saving vaccinations. The urgent challenges in child immunisation require locally led, innovative solutions, and the projects by CIHP and HABTech Solutions have demonstrated remarkable potential to deliver scalable, impactful change. Through our Immunisation Accelerator, we are excited to support their journey in transforming immunisation outcomes for children in Ethiopia, Nigeria, and beyond.”
The innovations will be piloted in conjunction with vaccination programmes Save the Children runs in partnership with GSK in Ethiopia and Nigeria, focused on working together towards a world where no child suffers from a vaccine preventable disease and every child’s health is protected.
Details of a second call out for submissions will be announced in April 2025.
Source: Save The Children
Visit www.stc-accelerator.org
to find out more.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
[1] Source: WHO/UNICEF national immunization coverage estimates, 2023.
For further enquiries contact:
Ethiopia: Ermias Teshome, Immunization Accelerator Lead – e.teshome@savethechildren.org.uk
Mirafe Solomon (Ms), Immunization Program Director – mirafe.solomon@savethechildren.org
Nigeria: Amanuel Mamo, Director of Advocacy, Campaign, Communication and Media – Amanuel.Mamo@savethechildren.org
UK: Rachel Sewell, Senior PR Manager – r.sewell@savethechildren.org.uk
Photo download HERE.
About Save the Children:
Save the Children exists to create lasting change for and with children. In more than 100 countries including the UK, we make sure children stay safe, healthy and learning, and change the future for good. We find new ways to reach children, no matter where they’re growing up. For a century, we’ve stood up for children’s rights and made sure their voices are heard.
For more information visit www.savethechildren.org.uk
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