Varsha Venugopal

We are keen to explore that at some later date, hopefully not too far out.

Maybe cash transfers.

There has been some research, but I don't think ambassadors would be sufficient.

Yeah.

The ones we have looked into in the past and maybe promising because we reach pregnant women already with SMS reminders would be around taking folic acid or making sure they understand when there is any kind of complications on home to reach, making sure they focus on institutional delivery.

So breastfeeding, tetanus, texoid injections for the pregnant women, even before the child is born.

So I think those are the most, I guess, low hanging fruits.

Maybe there's something on vitamin A supplements as well.

But beyond that, we haven't actually looked into the range of possibilities that could exist.

I think it's also useful to note, this is an open question for us with the J-PAL paper on how the ambassadors work versus SMS reminders.

It's something we still need to investigate further.

So we think SMS reminders are increasing salience.

It's something you already think is a good thing.

And this serves as a reminder.

Whereas with ambassadors, there is a likelihood they're actually changing norms and trust in the community.

So which is why

Beyond the 7 million kids in the country, we do think maybe there is a way even those other 3 million kids who are either just getting birthdose or not even being born in primary health centers, if there was a way the norm in the community were to change and immunization was seen as a cool thing to do, they would come in for completing their routine immunization as well.

Well, I know as a mom, I got a red book when I delivered at the NHS.

And that meant I got text messages and constant reminders on when to get vaccines.

And again, I do know that served a huge purpose when you feel so overwhelmed and run by a bus.