2025 Impact Stories – Digital Paths & Trusted Voices: Improved Immunisation in Nigeria

Nigeria has one of the world’s highest numbers of zero‑dose children, with significant barriers to routine immunisation rooted not in unwillingness, but in limited access to trusted information, service navigability, and confidence in health systems. From June 2024 to December 2025, Save the Children, in partnership with AskNivi and the Lagos State Primary Health Care Board, implemented the VaxSocial project in Lagos State to address these barriers through a hybrid digital–community model. The intervention combined a WhatsApp‑based digital navigation platform providing personalised guidance, reminders, and referrals, with intensive face‑to‑face support delivered by trained Community Health Volunteers, health workers, and community leaders.
The project reached over 190,000 caregivers, generated more than 67,000 referrals to primary health care facilities, and trained 235 Community Health Volunteers, exceeding initial targets. Findings indicate that while digital tools expanded reach and efficiency, interpersonal engagement by trusted local actors was critical to building trust, countering misinformation, and supporting follow‑through on vaccination. The initiative also strengthened system readiness, with state authorities expressing interest in integrating digital referrals into routine primary health care services. Overall, the project demonstrates that hybrid digital–community approaches are more effective than digital‑only models in improving immunisation uptake among marginalised populations and provides actionable evidence for scale‑up in high zero‑dose settings.