Festive season updates from Notify Health

Welcome: we’re glad to have you with us for our final newsletter of the year. This is a short one, but packed with program updates, holiday season gratitude and plans for the new year! Also: Your support can make a difference! Scroll down to learn how to be part of the journey to a future where all children thrive, free from preventable disease.

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One death prevented, up to 100 children protected

Our immunization reminder pilot has been in full force for well over eight weeks now. Our partners from Renaissance Care and Empowerment Foundation (RECEF) have been visiting our 45 pilot health facilities regularly in Kogi State collecting register photos and delivering trainings on the importance of good record keeping. We have now enrolled over 1,600 children into our reminder program!  

• We may have prevented the first death, and up to 100 children who might have been missed are vaccinated because of our program. These children are now better protected from disease and will grow up healthier to live happier lives as a result. These are statistical estimates, based on the number of parents in the program, and the typical effect vaccination reminders have had in studies. We don’t know the actual people behind the numbers, but we’re nonetheless thrilled about this milestone. Saving children’s lives is what we aim to do, and it is amazing to see the program taking shape to do just that.

• Ramping up: Throughout the pilot, the rate at which children have been enrolled has strongly increased. We went from around 100 children per week to 250 children per week now. Continuous improvement of the program pays off, and there is so much potential left to realize.

• Heartening feedback from the ground: we are receiving positive feedback from health workers and caregivers alike. This was a message from one of our partner staff who was out in the field last week in Dekina Local Government Area:

  
  

  “When I asked the Officer in Charge (OIC) about the impact of the reminder text messages, she confirmed that they have been very helpful. She mentioned that caregivers have even testified that the messages serve as effective reminders for immunization appointments.”

RECEF staff out in the field on health facility visits.

Planning big strides in 2025

As the year ticks over to 2025 and the pilot comes to a close in late January, we like many others are taking the opportunity to pause and gear up for the next stage. We met in person to discuss the steps for next year that would bring us the fastest and most cost-effectively towards our goal of saving as many children from preventable diseases as we can:

• Make sure the program works: we will be gathering end-line results from our pilot at the end of January. This will include both quantitative data on the effect of the program as well as qualitative reflections from health workers and their experience of the program. It’s very important to us that the program works, so we will take some time to interpret the results to guide us on the next steps.

• Reach many more children: Assuming the pilot results are good, we want to reach significantly more children and launch the program in more different contexts next year. This helps us ensure the program works even on a larger scale and in different circumstances. We also want to support the Malaria vaccine rollout in Nigeria with reminders if we effectively can, and further improve our program efficiency to ensure the program helps the most children with an existing budget.

• Build a team: As Notify Health’s program grows to reach more children, our team must grow with us. We are extremely excited to hire for two positions early in 2025. These will be Nigeria-based and applications aim to be open in January and will be released to this newsletter first! So make sure to share this newsletter with anyone interested in working with us, so they can subscribe and be the first to know about the positions.

• Refine our monitoring and evaluation: High-frequency data has been a driving force throughout the pilot to monitor how things are going and drive program changes. A big focus in the new year will be to evolve this M&E system to a point where we can effectively handle vastly more quantities of data and deliver high-impact feedback for our team internally as well as health workers in the field.

Be part of the journey

You can support a future where all children thrive, free from preventable disease. Your donation to Notify Health makes our 2025 goals possible. We estimate your contribution could do this much good:

• $500 helps us reach more than 100 children in Kogi State

• $5,000 means we can send reminder messages to parents of 50,000 children

• $20,000 helps us pilot the program in a new region, like Northern Nigeria

• $40,000 funds our entire expansion to another Nigerian State

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Gratitude

As the year comes to a close, we would like to share our Gratitude for all those people who have supported us along journey so far. There is still a lot of work to do, and many children to help protect, but we think it is important to take a moment and acknowledge the progress that has been made so far.

• Volunteers: A massive thank you to everyone who has given their time to help us out, whether with projects or advice during a 1:1 chat. Big shoutouts to Dylan Collins, and Anand Jeevanandham for their work on our evaluation methodology. Also to our volunteers in fundraising, finance/operations, and cost-effectiveness analysis. You know who you are!

• Partner: None of this would be possible without the team from Renaissance Care and Empowerment Foundation (RECEF) on the ground in Kogi doing the hard work, so thank you, Ambassador Idris Muraina and Ikechukwu Mpama as well as your whole team.

• Advisors: We’d be lost without the support of our advisors Fiona Conlon, Patrick Stadler and others. Watch this space in the new year, exciting announcements to come.

• Funders: Thank you once again to our seed funders. Without you, Notify Health would never have existed. We are grateful for your trust in us.

• Friends & Family: Our continuous sources of strength and guidance on the ups and downs of non-profit entrepreneurship.

See you in 2025, greetings from Sam & Daniel!

Us at our virtual Christmas party