Effect of Mobile Conditional Cash Transfers (mCCTs) roll out on Routine Childhood Immunization Coverage and Timeliness in Sindh, Pakistan

Last registered on January 24, 2022

Pre-Trial

General Information

Title

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0008852

Initial registration date

January 21, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

January 24, 2022, 9:06 AM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country

Pakistan

Region

Sindh

Primary Investigator

Name

Rachel Glennerster

Affiliation

University of Chicago

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2022-01-24

End date

2025-09-30

Keywords

Behavior, Health, Other

Additional Keywords

Immunization, Conditional Cash Transfers, CCTs, mobile credit, nudge, incentives, scaleup

JEL code(s)

O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth, I12 (Health Behavior), D90 (General micro-based behavioral economics), D83 ( Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - Search • Learning • Information and Knowledge • Communication • Belief • Unawareness)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

The Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) is a program by the government of Sindh that aims to vaccinate 0-23 months of age children against 11 Vaccine Preventable Diseases (VPDs). All EPI vaccinators currently use ZM Electronic Immunization Registry (ZM-EIR) across Sindh to enroll and track immunizations of children. To improve the immunization coverage of children in Sindh, it has introduced mobile phone-based conditional cash transfers (mCCTs) and plans to roll this out to 7 high-risk districts in the province. IRD is the monitoring partner of the program and will be accessing and providing descriptive analysis of this data. IRD has a MOU with the government of Sindh on the usage of this data.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Glennerster, Rachel. 2022. "Effect of Mobile Conditional Cash Transfers (mCCTs) roll out on Routine Childhood Immunization Coverage and Timeliness in Sindh, Pakistan." AEA RCT Registry. January 24. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.8852-1.0

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Caregivers enrolled in ZM electronic registry for immunization automatically receive small mobile phone credit when their child is vaccinated.

Intervention Start Date

2022-01-24

Intervention End Date

2025-09-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Number of children receiving Penta-1 vaccination, Number of children receiving Measles-1 vaccination

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Timeliness of Penta -1, Measles 1 and the percentage increase in the number of children receiving other vaccines in the schedule (and the timeliness of these vaccines). To evaluate any positive or negative spillovers on other non-immunization services we will include measures of the use of other (nonimmunization) early childhood services.

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

The 7 most disadvantaged districts in Sindh will be rolled into the mobile phone based conditional cash transfer (mCCT) program in randomized order. One district per month will be added to the treatment group. The mCCT amount of PKR 200 (USD 1.21) will be transferred as mobile credit (airtime) for each of the six immunization visits.

The program will be launched on Jan 24th, with the first district rolled in through staggered implementation through the end of February. The next district will be rolled in from the 1st of each month (i.e. March 1st)

Experimental Design Details

Not available

Randomization Method

Randomization done in office in STATA by researchers; no stratification

Randomization Unit

District-level

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

7 districts

Sample size: planned number of observations

1.3 million participants

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

7 districts will be randomized to be rolled into treatment over time. One district per month will be added to the treatment group.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name

University of Chicago Social and Behavioral Sciences

IRB Approval Date

2021-10-14

IRB Approval Number

IRB21-1503

Analysis Plan