From RCT to Real-World Impact:
How Demand-Side Interventions Help Close the Immunization Gap

A landmark randomized controlled trial in Haryana, India — recently published in Econometrica — studied 75 combinations of interventions across 295,000 children and found that combining demand-generation interventions drives greater immunization uptake than any single approach. The most cost-effective package, a combination of text reminders and community ambassadors, increased full immunizations by 26% compared to the counterfactual. Leveraging ambassadors and social networks makes this approach significantly more cost-effective than intensive community engagement models. Adding layered incentives in low-coverage areas increased full immunization rates by 44%, and by 500% among villages in the lowest quintile of vaccination at baseline.

This workshop brings together the researchers who produced these findings and the team now adapting them for implementation in Nigeria, where UNICEF survey data shows that more than half of missed vaccinations stem from awareness gaps and competing priorities. It is a rare opportunity to ask direct questions of Nobel Laureate Esther Duflo and Arun Chandrasekhar — the researchers who designed and tested this intervention — and to engage with the team translating these findings into practice.