Varsha and Fiona founded Suvita in 2019, after meeting at the Charity Entrepreneurship incubation programme, which supports entrepreneurs to launch impact-focused and evidence-driven nonprofits. After evaluating the results of the landmark study by Nobel Prize laureates Banerjee et al. (2019), we decided to focus on replicating and scaling up the researchers' proven approach for increasing uptake of vaccines: immunisation ambassadors.

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In 2020, Suvita merged with Charity Science Health (CSH) - another nonprofit working to increase uptake of immunisation in India. CSH had been working since 2017 to send SMS reminders about immunisations to caregivers. Suvita and CSH decided to join forces because:

1. Both organisations shared the focus of increasing uptake of immunisations and the principles of working in a way that was evidence-based, cost-effective and impact-focused

2. Based on discussions with various members of staff at J-PAL, the research organisation which conducted the Banerjee et al. (2019) study, we understand that combining immunisation ambassadors and SMS reminders may be more effective and more cost-effective than either in isolation (further analysis will be published soon)

3. Merging into one organisation would allow the combined team to work more efficiently and productively - we knew we would be stronger together.

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We now have a strengthened team running two programmes - immunisation ambassadors and SMS reminders - to increase uptake of routine vaccinations. Our long-term goal is to take both to scale across India, in close collaboration with state government partners, to ensure that no child misses out on their routine vaccinations. 

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