Help Suvita close the immunisation gap!

Have we ever appreciated the importance of vaccines as much as we do right now? While the world desperately awaits a COVID-19 vaccine, our “new normal” constantly reminds us of our global dependence on these life-saving medical technologies.

Vaccinations save 2 to 3 million children every year from deadly illnesses like measles and polio.

Yet these benefits are not accessible to everyone. Globally, one child dies every minute because they did not receive a vaccination for a preventable disease. In India, home to half the world’s under-vaccinated children, we lose one such child every four minutes. The World Health Organisation has warned that disruption to routine immunisation services due to the COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated this challenge. Through no fault of their own, many infants run an unacceptably high risk of dying from vaccine-preventable disease before they reach adulthood, simply because of their circumstances. Unequal access to basic healthcare shouldn’t determine the fate of a child.

Suvita works to close the immunisation gap.

Major investments by the Government of India have substantially strengthened immunisation delivery systems over recent years. The key remaining barrier is communication with parents - millions of children each year miss out on getting the right vaccine at the right time because their parents lack key information like when or where to attend an immunisation session.

At Suvita, we work to bridge this critical communication gap through two programmes based on rigorous research by Nobel-Prize-winning economists Banerjee, Duflo and colleagues.

1) Harnessing offline social networks and community spirit. We collect peer nominations from a community to identify natural opinion leaders. We then invite opinion leaders to become immunisation ambassadors, using their superior knowledge of the local context to increase awareness and motivation around vaccines in their community.

2) Direct reminders to parents and caregivers. We send SMS reminders to caregivers each time their child is due for a vaccine. These messages are personalised and customised to their child's immunisation journey, delivered 7 days and 1 day before they are due to help caregivers plan for the appointment.

We currently deliver our programmes in Saran district, Bihar - but we're just getting started. Through partnering with governments and other key stakeholders, we have opportunities to scale to other districts in Bihar and to expand to Maharashtra state in 2021 - you can help make this happen.

And your impact will be at least doubled if you donate by Thursday, December 3rd thanks to an anonymous donor! 

In this year-end campaign, we hope to raise at least £10,000 ($13,330 USD) towards safeguarding a healthy and happy future for India's children. Everything raised in this campaign will go towards expanding our programmes.

At a time when we are all acutely aware of the importance of vaccination, thank you for helping to ensure that these benefits are shared by everyone.

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Interested in spreading the message? You can be an immunisation ambassador

- If you too believe that no child should miss out on their basic vaccinations and you support Suvita’s impact-focused, evidence-based, community-driven approach, please consider sharing this page and a note on why you support our work using social media (you can use the campaign's hashtag #immunitycommunity), email, or whatever methods work for you. This simple act will be a huge help in getting us to - and hopefully well past - our goal! We know directly from discussions with the ambassadors we work with that a simple message from a valued connection is a powerful way to spread a message.

- If your employer might match a donation, or if you would like to personally match donations to this campaign for one day or more (up to an amount of your choosing), please let us know! 

- You can also sign up for Suvita’s email newsletter to keep up with our progress and learn more about how your donations are being used. To stay in touch with the #immunitycommunity, you can opt in to receive communications during the donation process, or subscribe at the bottom of any page on our website.

Thank you so much for joining this effort to work towards a world in which all children receive their basic vaccinations. Stay safe and support each other – and those in need – during these tough times.

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Easy ways to donate no matter your currency

India / US donors:

Simply hit MAKE A DONATION on this page.

UK donors:

Donate on our UK crowdfunder at https://www.gofundme.com/f/suvita, where your contribution will be eligible for us to claim 25% extra as Gift Aid

Other donors:

Option 1. Hit the MAKE A DONATION button on this campaign page and enter your donation amount (your bank will make any currency conversion). Please note you will not receive a tax receipt if you choose this method.

Option 2. To pay CAD and receive a tax receipt, go to the donation page on our website here and follow the instructions.

Option 3. If you wish to donate more than $1,000 equivalent in another currency, please email us using the 'Contact us' button on our website to discuss options that might reduce third party processing fees (such as a direct bank transfer).

Thank you so much for supporting and sharing our page!