New Incentives
Geography:
AFRICA
Type:
GRANT
Mission
Increasing vaccination rates of children in Africa through cash incentives
The Problem
In northern Nigeria, infant mortality rates remain among the highest in the world. Despite the availability of life-saving vaccines, millions of children remain unprotected due to deeply rooted systemic barriers. Many families must travel long distances to clinics, face out-of-pocket expenses, or lack trust in the health system altogether.
Cultural, logistical, and financial challenges converge to suppress vaccine uptake in a region where preventable diseases remain a leading cause of child death. Without targeted intervention, these gaps persist across fragile health systems—particularly in areas underserved by existing immunization infrastructure.
The Solution
New Incentives tackles this problem by integrating conditional cash transfers (CCTs) into Nigeria’s public health system to encourage timely childhood vaccinations. Their program offers small financial incentives to caregivers—enough to reduce the economic burden of clinic visits without distorting behavior. These transfers are only disbursed when infants receive vaccines as per Nigeria’s routine immunization schedule.
Crucially, New Incentives does not operate parallel to public systems—it strengthens them. The organization works in lockstep with Nigeria’s federal and state health agencies, local leaders, and clinic staff to scale up access, build trust, and embed sustainable operations. Their staff visit each clinic every month to verify doses, conduct data quality checks, and ensure health workers are supported.
With operations now active in over 10 Nigerian states and more than 1,250 clinics in Kano alone , New Incentives has scaled rapidly without compromising on cost-effectiveness or data integrity. Their randomized controlled trial—conducted by IDinsight—showed a 27 percentage point increase in vaccination coverage, affirming both the model’s validity and its transformative potential.
Outputs (Cumulative, as of June 30, 2025):
5,215,389 infants enrolled in the program
22.1 million cash transfers disbursed
77.8 million childhood vaccinations encouraged
Clinics supported in 14 Nigerian states, spanning over 9,000 health workers trained annually 
Outcomes:
Vaccination coverage increased by 27 percentage points, per IDinsight RCT 
Cost per infant served decreased from $34.54 in 2019 to $17.00 by 2024, reflecting sustained efficiency gains 
Expanded reach to underserved and insecure regions through partnership with local authorities and community leaders
The Giving Opportunity
Donor support enables New Incentives to reach the most vulnerable populations with proven, cost-effective interventions. Each dollar directly advances vaccination coverage and child survival by funding core implementation costs in high-need areas.
Your donation can:
Fund outreach and monthly verification at 10 rural clinics
Support vaccine incentives for 250 infants
Sustain one health worker’s training and clinic supervision for a year
Expand operations into an additional local government area (LGA)
Equip a mobile monitoring team to conduct data audits and quality assurance
Provide a full year of CCT coverage for a community of 500 children
How to Support
To learn more or contribute to New Incentives, contact us at info@newincentives.org or reach out to your philanthropic advisor.