Mobile Money and the importance of timely, complete payments to frontline health campaign workers in the fight to eradicate polio: pilot experience from a World Health Organization digital payment platform in Africa

BMC Health Services Research

Research

Patsy Kiconco¹  Oromena Edwin Akpotu¹  Mian Amoakon Yves Roland¹  Dorcas Karimi¹  Mahafous Saka¹  Idil Hussein Jama¹  Abena Aboagyewaa Oppon-Kusi¹  Leah Wanjeri¹  Ahmed Hamani² 

[1] World Health Organization, PO Box 13113, 351 Francis Baard St, Metropark Building, 7th Fl, Pretoria, South Africa;World Health Organization–Regional Office for Africa, PO Box 06, Cité du Djoué, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo;

关键词: Africa;    Cash-based payments;    Côte d’Ivoire;    Frontline workers;    Immunization programs;    Mobile Money;    poliomyelitis eradication;    Poliovirus vaccines;    Vaccination campaign;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12913-022-08990-4

 received in 2022-01-24, accepted in 2022-12-19,  发布年份 2022

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundIn response to the increase in vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 in Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, and many other African countries from 2017 to 2019, concentrated efforts are needed to improve the effectiveness of vaccination campaigns. Frontline polio health campaign worker engagement and job retention are critical to successful campaign implementation, as well as timely, in-full payment to these workers via an electronic system.MethodsThe Global Polio Eradication Initiative and its partners designed a road map to implement the World Health Organization Mobile Money digital payment system for health campaign workers across designated African Region countries and country-specific areas. The road map included: (1) strategy communication about Mobile Money to key stakeholders; (2) prioritization of Mobile Money pilot countries; (3) establishment of a digital finance team to support Mobile Money rollout for polio campaigns; (4) implementation of Mobile Money in select pilot areas; and (5) documentation by the digital finance team of Mobile Money implementation across pilot areas. At the country-specific level, and as described in the first pilot campaign in Côte d’Ivoire, implementation of Mobile Money occurred in 3 phases: precampaign, campaign, and postcampaign.ResultsMobile Money was piloted in Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Mali, and Republic of the Congo. Although program reach varied by country, the percentages of payments successfully made via Mobile Money in pilot countries were high: In campaign round 1, 99% of campaign workers in 2 regions in Mali, and 99% of campaign workers in 5 districts in Ghana were paid successfully. In Cote d’Ivoire, Mobile Money was piloted in all 113 districts for campaign rounds 1, 2 and 3, and in 4 districts in Abidjan for campaign round 3. In rounds 1, 2 and 3, 99.6%, 99.6%, and 99.9% of payments to polio health campaign workers, respectively, were made successfully.ConclusionImplementation of the Mobile Money pilot program, particularly across Côte d’Ivoire, demonstrates the value of an electronic payment system in addressing frontline polio health campaign worker need for timely, in-full payment. The World Health Organization-led Mobile Money pilot program can serve as a model for agencies committed to delivering greater efficiencies and improved health campaigns in resource-challenged settings.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

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