Experience of Polio Vaccinators with Digital Payments

Delays and challenges in vaccinator payments have been identified as a common issue affecting polio campaign quality. We surveyed vaccinators who participated in the polio campaigns in Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, Tanzania and Zimbabwe in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of the countries and the World Health Organization’s Digital Finance Team. The aim of these studies is to understand vaccinators’ experience with mobile money payments as well as how to ensure that payments are timely, complete, and convenient.

Key Takeaways

1. Mobile money usage is high across most countries. Confidence in ability to cash out payments is consistent with usage. Independence in using mobile money varies by country.
2. Mobile money is the preferred mode of payment for most health workers in almost all countries. Workers value convenience and security of payments.
3. Campaign workers most commonly value timely payments. They complain about cost of travel involved in cashing out.
4. While payment timelines are driving health workers’ payment experiences, the perception of what is a “timely” payment varies by country.

To learn more about the results of the study, click on the links below to read the country level reports.