- Records Nearly 4,000 Facility Visits, Supports Thousands In Routine, HPV Vaccination
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Participants at the close-out ceremony of Nigeria Vaccination Coverage (VaxSocial) project, sponsored by Gavi and supported by Nivi Inc. The project, a digital-first immunisation initiative designed to reduce vaccine hesitancy, boost confidence, and make vaccination more convenient for families, worked closely with Save the Children in collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Health and the Lagos State Primary Health Care Board. |
The Nigeria Vaccination Coverage (VaxSocial) project is changing the immunisation landscape in Lagos. By leveraging digital demand generation, the initiative reached over 191,000 caregivers and supported tens of thousands in accessing routine and HPV vaccines, with nearly 4,000 facility visits recorded.
Project Sponsorship And Collaboration
Sponsored by Gavi and supported by Nivi Inc., the project worked closely with Save the Children in collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Health and the Lagos State Primary Health Care Board. It is a digital-first immunisation initiative designed to reduce vaccine hesitancy, boost confidence, and make vaccination more convenient for families.
Pilot Project Objectives And Outcomes
At the close-out ceremony last week, Programme Manager of the VaxSocial Project, Dr Felicia Mairiga, explained that the pilot was intended to demonstrate whether digital platforms could effectively support improved vaccination coverage. “In these last 18 months, we’ve done a lot, we’ve learned a lot, and we want to use that information and be context-specific about Lagos State, because there is opportunity for this to be scaled, not just in Lagos State, but in other states in the country. This is a digital platform; it is in no way replacing all the immunisation projects in Lagos State. We just want to be sure that immunisation is carried along in this new wave of the use of digital spaces,” she said.
Call for Integration Into State Strategy
Dr Mairiga stressed that lessons learned must not be lost, urging that the initiative be adopted into the Lagos State immunisation strategy. She called for expanded funding for HPV vaccination, motivation and incentivisation of health workers in hard-to-reach communities, recruitment of more frontline personnel to ease workload pressures, and guaranteed vaccine supply in every primary health centre. These measures, she argued, are essential to ensure no child or adolescent in Lagos misses vaccination due to misinformation, lack of access, or low confidence.
Partnership With AskNivi Platform
“It was a partnership between Save the Children and AskNivi – a digital platform and a digital-based organisation. They support people to get access to the platform, and once you have access, you’re able to get the correct information regarding routine immunisation and, of course, the HPV vaccine. Having access to the platform leads the caregiver on a journey to dispel misinformation, motivate them to act quickly, and refer them to the appropriate facilities. These people now have access so they can continue to interact with this child, which goes even beyond immunisation to other health-related matters. The platform remains available through QR code, WhatsApp number, or social media platforms, and continuously addresses whatever questions arise,” she added.
Digital Demand Generation And Reach
Project Coordinator Nigeria Nivi Inc., Veronica Obi, stated: “VaxSocial is about digital demand generation, and we do this using awareness, where we do digital marketing online, creating awareness about routine immunisation and HPV vaccinations from our social media campaigns. As we ran online, we had over 71 million impressions, which are how many people saw the information we passed about HPV vaccination or routine immunisation. We had over 13 million social media accounts reached, and over 100,000 people came in to chat with us on the chatbot about routine immunisation and HPV vaccination, and they received referrals to healthcare facilities. The AskNivi platform is launched on WhatsApp, a Meta platform, and we leverage the security features of Meta, so the chats are end-to-end encrypted and 100 per cent confidential. Currently, the people who chat most with us are aged 19 to 29 years, followed by those aged 30 to 44 years.”
Positive User Feedback And Continued Engagement
She added that feedback from users of the AskNivi chatbot had been overwhelmingly positive, and despite the project’s closure, the network of users remains active, continuing to access health information beyond immunisation.
Language And Access Barriers
Policy Advocacy and Campaign Officer at Save the Children, John Oluwafemi, noted that while the chatbot was designed with English-speaking users in mind, physical community engagements revealed a preference for Yoruba. He observed that many people were eager to use technology, but barriers such as lack of data or trust in the platform remained. “Before you can be qualified to use the AskNivi platform, you must have a smartphone. While some people have smartphones, they don’t have data; some have internet but no data. People also want to know if they can actually trust the platform,” he remarked.
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| R-L: Dr Felicia Meriga, SCI VaxSocial Programme Manager; Magdalene Obande, who serves as Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning Assistant for the VaxSocial Project; John Olla, the Policy, Advocacy, and Campaign Officer with SCI, and Veronica Obi, Project Coordinator, Nigeria Nivi Inc. at the Close-Out session of VaxSocial project, SCI VaxSocial (Nigeria Vaccination Coverage Project), a digital-first immunisation initiative designed to reduce hesitancy, boost confidence, and make vaccination more convenient for families. |
Trust As Critical Lesson
Dr Magdalena Obande, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning Assistant on the VaxSocial Project, highlighted trust as a critical lesson. “Among lessons we learned from the project is that nothing is built without trust. We are in a digital age, an AI age, but if the people don’t trust the system, or are not good with what we do, they wouldn’t have given us an open hand. Trust paved a whole lot of ways for us to implement this project and for community-held volunteers to be able to onboard as much as they did,” she said.
