Choti Khushi Immunization Incentive Support Program

Challenge

Several contributing factors are culpable for low immunization coverage in Pakistan particularly in the province of Sindh. On top of the existing supply-side barriers, demand-side barriers also exacerbate immunization coverage rates, particularly in slums, remote rural areas and other high-risk settings.

These hard-to-access, marginalized communities across Sindh are disenfranchised from basic health care structures and are at a greater risk of disease exposure. Furthermore,the long and hard to afford commute to the immunization facilities, and the lack of financial resources to reach these sites and overcome these barriers has further exacerbated the problem.

Approach

The Choti Khushi Immunization Incentive Program is based on evidence generated by IRD through a large-scale Randomized Control Trial conducted during 2017-20 in Karachi, Pakistan, with 11,200 children to test the effectiveness of mobile phone-based incentives in low resource settings.

Our intervention introduces evidence-based mobile phone-based Conditional Cash Transfers (mCCT) for immunizations to increase demand and uptake for routine childhood immunization services and enhance vaccine coverage in low and middle-income settings like Pakistan.

For every immunization visit completed, caregivers with a registered pre-paid mobile number on any mobile network will receive mobile airtime of net 275 PKR, which will add up to 1,200 PKR for all six recommended immunization visits.

Impact

The Choti Khushi program will provide mobile-based conditional cash incentives for caregivers of around 1.2 million children of 0-23 months of age in the 7 low-coverage districts of Sindh annually.

The Choti Khushi Immunization Incentive Support program aims to ensure that no child is left behind and is protected against all vaccine-preventable diseases for a healthier and stronger future.