Project profile — Building Community Support for Polio Eradication

• Pakistan (100.00%)

• Basic Health: Infectious disease control (12250) (100.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (not targeted)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (principal objective)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)

The overall goal of this project is to stop the spread of polio virus in Pakistan, where the vast majority of the remaining cases of polio occur. It is implemented by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which, along with the Government of Pakistan and the World Health Organization, spearheads the Pakistan Polio Eradication Initiative. This initiative supports UNICEF’s activities in communities at risk of contracting polio across Pakistan. The project activities increase the community acceptance of polio vaccination team workers, through local language media campaigns, health information packages, and support to community level workers who engage community members on public health. These activities focus on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province and the neighboring Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). In communities in these areas at highest risk for polio, the initiative hires community vaccinators who work in their own communities to vaccinate children and promote health. This innovative approach is referred to as Continuous Community Protected Vaccination (CCPV).

The expected intermediate outcomes for this project include: (1) reduced number of girls and boys missed or under-vaccinated by polio vaccination campaigns to zero in communities with the highest prevalence of polio in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas; (2) increased community acceptance of polio vaccinators across Pakistan using social mobilization, with a focus on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas; and (3) improved depiction of polio vaccination in local language media nationally, with a focus on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Results achieved as of the end of the project (December 2018) include: (1) sustained high-quality Supplementary Immunization Activity performance in core reservoirs of Pakistan; (2) reduced number of girls and boys missed or under-vaccinated by polio vaccination campaigns in communities with the highest prevalence of polio in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The remaining missed children against targeted populations in 2018 ranged between 3.4% to 5.2% after every campaign; and (3) increased community acceptance of polio vaccinators across Pakistan using social mobilization, with a focus on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas leading to 50% reduction of polio cases.

• Proactive disclosure