The Save the Children Immunisation Accelerator has today opened a second round of applications, inviting organisations in Nigeria and Ethiopia to submit proposals for innovations that tackle entrenched barriers preventing children from receiving vaccinations.

The $1 million initiative, funded through a grant from GSK, was launched in April last year. It is open to community-based organisations, local and national NGOs, research teams, social enterprises and tech companies, who will be eligible for up to $100,000 funding per project, as well as broader technical support tailored to their innovation.

Successful applicants will also be able to pilot their innovation as part of vaccination programmes Save the Children runs, in partnership with GSK, in Ethiopia and Nigeria, focused on reaching ‘zero dose’ children – those who have never received a routine vaccination. There are an estimated 2.1 million children in Nigeria and almost one million in Ethiopia[1] classed as ‘zero dose’. When children aren’t vaccinated, they are left vulnerable to diseases like polio, measles and cholera – all preventable with vaccines.