Nigeria—Partnership for Reviving Routine Immunization in Northern Nigeria / Maternal Newborn and Child Health (PRRINN/MNCH)

Covering a population of approximately 19 million in four states of Northern Nigeria, the Partnership for Reviving Routine Immunization in Northern Nigeria / Maternal Newborn and Child Health programme (PRRINN/MNCH) combined health systems strengthening with routine immunization and maternal, newborn, and child health interventions.

Working in states with some of the world’s worst indicators for maternal, newborn, and child health, PRRINN-MNCH revitalized primary health care and improved the availability, quality, and utilization of maternal, newborn, and child health services, including ante-, peri- and post-natal care, emergency obstetric and newborn care, essential care for newborns and infants, young child feeding and nutrition, and routine immunization against preventable diseases.

A broad range of indicators provide strong evidence of value for money and lives saved by PRRINN-MNCH. The programme delivered a range of outcomes at an estimated cost per person of £0.43 in 2013, which equates to a cost of between £16 and £33 per child life saved. The programme’s comprehensive approach to health system strengthening contributed to positive change in one of the world’s most difficult settings.

Sample Activities

• Increase efficiency and coordination of health services, decentralisation, and increase confidence in and utilisation of services.
• Increase information access to participating communities.
• Support the establishment of sustainable community emergency schemes such as blood donor schemes, emergency saving schemes, the emergency transport schemes, and a system of mother’s helpers.
• Monitor MNCH-related activities and use this data to improve and increase understanding of and support for community-level response.

Select Results

• Developed one of the largest and enduring community engagement and mobilization initiatives in Northern Nigeria, resulting in large increases in demand for child immunization and MNCH services.
• Developed and implemented a human resource information system that was used to capture baseline information, plan for equitable distribution of health workers, and support the administration of human resources.
• Rolled out the District Health Information Systems 2 (DHIS2), in collaboration with Health Information Systems Program – Nigeria (HISP Nigeria) and also successfully pioneered the use of the mobile version of the software, revolutionizing access to health data across the country.
• Doubled percentage rates of women receiving antenatal care and delivering with a skilled birth attendant, from 25 to 51 percent and from 11 to 27 percent, respectively.
• Reduced child mortality—by 41 percent in the under-5 mortality rate and by 44 percent in the infant mortality rate.
• Increased immunised coverage from 2 to 18 percent for 1-year-olds.