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The Communication Initiative Network and Partnership

Focused on all major development issues; Convening the communication/media for development, social/behavioural change communities: Social Network (85,000 - please join), Knowledge Sharing (35,000 summaries, 1 million users pa), Critical Review (ratings, comments, dialogue); Advocacy for this field. Strategic direction/funding from 20 Partners - to discuss contact Warren

Let's Make History: The CORE Group Polio Project










This new website captures the work and innovations of the Core Group's polio work in India. It provides information on the strategies used, the IEC materials created, and the innovations developed. There are photo essays on initiatives and case studies that outline both initiatives and lessons.

There are a lot of resources that can be downloaded in PDF format.

Featured

How to convince the common population for Polio Eradication

Reasons and Remedies of the OPV Refusal Cases in Polio NIDS in FATA, Pakistan

Background on FATA [Federally Administered Tribal Areas], Pakistan's Polio refusal cases:

An Insight to the Development of Communication Strategy for Polio Eradication in FATA Pakistan

INTRODUCTION:

 

As we know, 80 percent of the population of Pakistan is living in rural areas, and the overall literacy rate is not more than 45 percent. Keeping in view the above facts, most of the population have sufficient knowledge about the Malaria, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis B (HBV)& C virus, but, unfortunately, a very...

25th Meeting of the Expert Review Committee (ERC) on Polio Eradication & Routine Immunization in Nigeria

This document shares the results of the Expert Review Committee (ERC) on Polio Eradication and Routine Immunization in Nigeria, which took place in Abuja, Nigeria, from March 19-20 2013. It includes background, discussion of strategy (including communication strategies), and 31 recommendations that were developed at this gathering.

Research and Strategy

Global Vaccine Summit Edition of Polio News

"Polio eradication can be our generation's legacy to all future generations. Only working together can we make history and end polio." - Scientific Declaration on Polio Eradication

25th Meeting of the Expert Review Committee (ERC) on Polio Eradication & Routine Immunization in Nigeria

This document shares the results of the Expert Review Committee (ERC) on Polio Eradication and Routine Immunization in Nigeria, which took place in Abuja, Nigeria, from March 19-20 2013. It includes background, discussion of strategy (including communication strategies), and 31 recommendations that were developed at this gathering.

Reflections on Experience: Towards More Effective Polio Communication Reviews

"I have had the very real privilege of being involved in the Global Polio Eradication initiative (GPEI) for the past 7 or 8 years. My vantage point has been somewhat unique as someone who sits outside the main implementing organisations but has nevertheless had an opportunity to see the programme close up."

What Led to the Nigerian Boycott of the Polio Vaccination Campaign?

"Public trust...plays an important role in the public's compliance with public health interventions, especially compliance with vaccination programs, which target mainly healthy people. Where public trust is eroded, rumours can spread and this can lead to rejection of health interventions."

Treating Polio in Afghanistan

This news story captures the way that children are being immunised as they cross the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. At the checkpoint, where approximately 50,000 people pass through daily, children under the age of 5 years are ushered into a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) shelter. There, polio volunteers administer drops and...

Parental Perceptions Surrounding Polio and Self-Reported Non-Participation in Polio Supplementary Immunization Activities in Karachi, Pakistan

"Lack of knowledge about polio, lack of faith in the vaccine’s effectiveness, misperceptions about vaccine-related adverse events (e.g. infertility) and mistrust among Pashtuns make it highly likely that poliovirus transmission will continue in this population unless specific targeted activities are undertaken to promote vaccination."...

Q & A: How India Stopped Polio

This interview was conducted to mark the anniversary of a polio milestone in India: 2 years without reporting a single case of polio. To learn more about the strategies that led to this accomplishment, including communication strategies, Eric Porterfield talked with Jeffrey Bates, a Polio C4D Officer (Communication for Development) at one of...

Eradicating Polio: How One Man Changed His View on Vaccines

"Unfortunately, when a parent questions the value of vaccines, he puts his entire community at risk. But as I learned in India in 2008, this shared risk can sometimes be part of the solution."

WHO Denounces CIA for Misusing Anti-Polio Drive

"We need to promote community ownership of the vaccination drive so that the masses themselves are empowered to stand up against forces opposed to administration of polio drops to children."

Experiences

Immunisation Registry and Information System within TFYR Macedonia's E-Health Framework

As part of this information and communication technology (ICT) for development project, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Skopje provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Institute of Public Health to design programme management and reporting software for maternal and child health programmes in the former...

Polio Project using the SALT Approach (Stimulate, Appreciate, Listen/Learn, Transfer)

The problem of poor vaccination acceptance among religious communities in the north of Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), came to the forefront in 2011 after monitoring data revealed high rates of refusal of polio vaccination during National Immunisation Days (NIDs) conducted as a polio outbreak response.

Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP): Communication Team

Many countries affected by polio have a shortage of skilled public health staff available to fully support the global effort to eradicate the disease. The Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP) programme, led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and co-sponsored by Rotary International, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the...

unicef_polio.jpg

Vaccination Against Polio in DR Congo

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is working to promote acceptance of polio vaccination in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by addressing the difficulties of reaching people with information and immunisation services from a geographical and a religious standpoint. The programme uses social mobilisation activities integrated with...

"Now When They Push Me I Just Go Faster"

"Aqeel takes the spotlight away from the politics and misunderstandings that can too often muddy the dialogue about polio vaccination."

Nurturing Trees Nurturing Lives

Launched on February 24 2013, the one-year anniversary of the day India was removed from the World Health Organization (WHO)'s polio endemic list, this campaign involves Indian cricket star Suresh Raina working with youth and children to communicate the importance of vaccination for a healthy life.

VACUNATON

VACUNATON was a mass vaccination campaign - organised as a televised health festival with television spots preceding it - conducted on April 15 2012 in 48 of 323 municipalities in Bolivia, selected due to their risk for measles and rubella. The goal was to vaccinate up to 200,000 children, aged two to five years old, who were not vaccinated...

Africa Routine Immunization System Essentials (ARISE)

Over a 3-year period, the Africa Routine Immunization System Essentials (ARISE) research project documented interventions that drive strong routine immunisation (RI) system performance and analysed their potential for diffusion, at scale, throughout sub-Saharan Africa. ARISE worked to translate these tested solutions into focused options for...

CORE India Combined Routine and Polio Immunization Drive 2010

In 2010, the CORE Group Polio Project (CGPP) in India undertook a communication-centred initiative to deliver the oral polio vaccine (OPV) as well as routine immunisation (RI) to underserved, high-risk areas. Formed in 1999 in Uttar Pradesh, CGPP's India Secretariat implements the project via an extensive network of Community Mobilization...

Publications

CORE Group Polio Project (CGPP) India Website

This online resource includes polio communication resources developed by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and CORE, who started working together in India in 2003 as the Social Mobilization Network (SM Net) to provide concentrated support for immunisation in high-risk areas (HRAs) of Uttar Pradesh (UP). Working in 12 districts of UP...

The Game Changer [June 2012]: UNICEF Quarterly Newsletter on Polio Eradication Initiative in Nigeria

"We never felt the need to get our children immunized, but now, I will do my best to mobilize our community," says Muhammad Bello, the grandfather of a 2-year-old Aisha who fell victim to the wild poliovirus just a few weeks ago in Sokoto state, northern Nigeria."

This newsletter from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF...

The Game Changer [March 2012]: UNICEF Quarterly Newsletter on Polio Eradication Initiative in Nigeria

This newsletter from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Nigeria features and discusses "game changing" initiatives as well as challenges and opportunities that the Nigerian Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) is facing in its efforts to reach the global eradication goal. It is designed to serve as a tool to obtain periodic information...

Polio News - February 2012 Edition

Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)'s Polio News, February 2012, shares news and information about polio eradication efforts worldwide in the wake of the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). Selected news items include:

Polio News - January 2012 Edition

Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)'s Polio News, January 2012, reflects on the year of 2011 "as one of mixed success and setbacks. One success will go into the history books: India has gone 12 months without reporting a case of polio. However, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria saw increases in cases compared to 2010. Angola and...

African Health Monitor: Countdown...to a Polio-free World

This magazine of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa (Volume 3, Number 1) covers the following topics (selected communication-related elements are highlighted below):

Polio News No. 37

Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)'s 37th edition of Polio News reports on quarters 1 and 2 of 2011. Highlights of the issue include:

Polio Pipeline - 8th Edition

From the Polio Eradication Research and Product Development team at the World Health Organization (WHO), the 8th edition of the Polio Pipeline newsletter provides an in-depth look at the vision for the post-eradication era, including the eventual cessation of oral polio vaccine (OPV) from routine immunisation programmes. While this...

India Communication Update (ICU), May 2011

This update is produced monthly by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) India in consultation with polio partners and is circulated by email as a PDF document. Its purpose is to provide stakeholders with a concise update on strategic developments in the communication effort for polio eradication in India, in response to the fast-evolving...

Communication Reviews

Report of the Communications Review: Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme

This report presents the findings of the Communication Review panel, conducted for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Pakistan on behalf of the national polio eradication programme. The panel worked in 4 teams to cover 4 areas of communication and social mobilisation: mass media; interpersonal communication and community engagement;...

External Polio Communication Review: Afghanistan

This report from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) presents the findings of an independent polio communication review conducted in Afghanistan, a polio-endemic country, as part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). In view of the usefulness of these reviews to objectively evaluate the existing communication strategies and...

Report on the Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on Poliomyelitis Eradication in Afghanistan and Pakistan

From the World Health Organization (WHO), this report shares details on a meeting held by the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on poliomyelitis eradication in Afghanistan and Pakistan (Islamabad, Pakistan - March 24-25 2011). The objectives of the meeting were to review progress towards poliomyelitis eradication in the 2 countries, after one year...

Community Participation

Three Reasons to Celebrate Women Working to End Polio, This Mother's Day

"I feel more confident than ever that the empowered and enlightened mothers of our time will continue to be the change agents in our societies with continued resilience in initiatives such as vaccination, family planning and basic education."

Speaking from his own experience in India, in this blog entry, Dr. Ananda...

Global Vaccine Summit Edition of Polio News

"Polio eradication can be our generation's legacy to all future generations. Only working together can we make history and end polio." - Scientific Declaration on Polio Eradication

Deux Gouttes: STOP POLIO!

Launched on the occasion of the Third African Vaccination Week (AVW) in April 2013, this website from the Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) Programme in Chad features up-to-date information and data on the situation of polio in Chad, while providing information on Government and Partners' efforts to eradicate polio and strengthen routine...

How to convince the common population for Polio Eradication

Reasons and Remedies of the OPV Refusal Cases in Polio NIDS in FATA, Pakistan

Background on FATA [Federally Administered Tribal Areas], Pakistan's Polio refusal cases:

An Insight to the Development of Communication Strategy for Polio Eradication in FATA Pakistan

INTRODUCTION:

 

As we know, 80 percent of the population of Pakistan is living in rural areas, and the overall literacy rate is not more than 45 percent. Keeping in view the above facts, most of the population have sufficient knowledge about the Malaria, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis B (HBV)& C virus, but, unfortunately, a very...

25th Meeting of the Expert Review Committee (ERC) on Polio Eradication & Routine Immunization in Nigeria

This document shares the results of the Expert Review Committee (ERC) on Polio Eradication and Routine Immunization in Nigeria, which took place in Abuja, Nigeria, from March 19-20 2013. It includes background, discussion of strategy (including communication strategies), and 31 recommendations that were developed at this gathering.

Taking a step forward - bringing students from Medical Colleges for Polio Eradication

Balochistan is 45% of the geographical area of Pakistan and only 5% of the population. More than 75% of the population of Balochistan lives in rural areas, and it has one of the weakest healthcare infrastructures in the country. The tertiary care hospitals in the provincial capital Quetta are considered crucial settings for the polio...

Treating Polio in Afghanistan

This news story captures the way that children are being immunised as they cross the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. At the checkpoint, where approximately 50,000 people pass through daily, children under the age of 5 years are ushered into a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) shelter. There, polio volunteers administer drops and...

Q & A: How India Stopped Polio

This interview was conducted to mark the anniversary of a polio milestone in India: 2 years without reporting a single case of polio. To learn more about the strategies that led to this accomplishment, including communication strategies, Eric Porterfield talked with Jeffrey Bates, a Polio C4D Officer (Communication for Development) at one of...

Advocacy

Global Vaccine Summit Edition of Polio News

"Polio eradication can be our generation's legacy to all future generations. Only working together can we make history and end polio." - Scientific Declaration on Polio Eradication

Deux Gouttes: STOP POLIO!

Launched on the occasion of the Third African Vaccination Week (AVW) in April 2013, this website from the Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) Programme in Chad features up-to-date information and data on the situation of polio in Chad, while providing information on Government and Partners' efforts to eradicate polio and strengthen routine...

25th Meeting of the Expert Review Committee (ERC) on Polio Eradication & Routine Immunization in Nigeria

This document shares the results of the Expert Review Committee (ERC) on Polio Eradication and Routine Immunization in Nigeria, which took place in Abuja, Nigeria, from March 19-20 2013. It includes background, discussion of strategy (including communication strategies), and 31 recommendations that were developed at this gathering.

Q & A: How India Stopped Polio

This interview was conducted to mark the anniversary of a polio milestone in India: 2 years without reporting a single case of polio. To learn more about the strategies that led to this accomplishment, including communication strategies, Eric Porterfield talked with Jeffrey Bates, a Polio C4D Officer (Communication for Development) at one of...

Polio Eradication: Muslim Scholars Deny Polio Vaccine Rumours

"Scholars urged religious institutions to actively participate in the implementation of the polio eradication campaigns..."

This news piece out of Islamabad, Pakistan, describes a 2-day conference held in Cairo, Egypt, in March 2013 that brought together an international group of Muslim scholars, who discussed strategies for...

Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP): Communication Team

Many countries affected by polio have a shortage of skilled public health staff available to fully support the global effort to eradicate the disease. The Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP) programme, led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and co-sponsored by Rotary International, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the...

unicef_polio.jpg

Vaccination Against Polio in DR Congo

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is working to promote acceptance of polio vaccination in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by addressing the difficulties of reaching people with information and immunisation services from a geographical and a religious standpoint. The programme uses social mobilisation activities integrated with...

In DR Congo, Polio Survivors Advocate on Behalf of Immunization Efforts

Created as part of World Immunization Week, April 2012, this video shares an example of how one United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) office is engaging in immunisation campaigns and raising awareness about the importance of vaccines to child survival. In the video, UNICEF correspondent Natacha Ikoli reports on a sports journalist in the...

CORE Group Polio Project (CGPP) India Website

This online resource includes polio communication resources developed by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and CORE, who started working together in India in 2003 as the Social Mobilization Network (SM Net) to provide concentrated support for immunisation in high-risk areas (HRAs) of Uttar Pradesh (UP). Working in 12 districts of UP...

Nigeria

25th Meeting of the Expert Review Committee (ERC) on Polio Eradication & Routine Immunization in Nigeria

This document shares the results of the Expert Review Committee (ERC) on Polio Eradication and Routine Immunization in Nigeria, which took place in Abuja, Nigeria, from March 19-20 2013. It includes background, discussion of strategy (including communication strategies), and 31 recommendations that were developed at this gathering.

Reflections on Experience: Towards More Effective Polio Communication Reviews

"I have had the very real privilege of being involved in the Global Polio Eradication initiative (GPEI) for the past 7 or 8 years. My vantage point has been somewhat unique as someone who sits outside the main implementing organisations but has nevertheless had an opportunity to see the programme close up."

What Led to the Nigerian Boycott of the Polio Vaccination Campaign?

"Public trust...plays an important role in the public's compliance with public health interventions, especially compliance with vaccination programs, which target mainly healthy people. Where public trust is eroded, rumours can spread and this can lead to rejection of health interventions."

Polio: Is it too late for participation?

From Development Communication specialist Wendy Quarry. Image: Young Fulani girl at a polio and sanitation meeting (September 2012; credit: Chris Morry)

Missed: Polio Communications Quarterly Update

"The past 18 months have seen the emergence of a powerful platform to collect and analyze social data, and the birth and subsequent growth of a network of skilled community mobilizers who contribute contextual evidence about the feelings, opinions and other variables responsible for many of the same children being repeatedly missed."...

Final Report: 24th Meeting of the Expert Review Committee (ERC) on Polio Eradication & Routine Immunization in Nigeria

This report describes the outputs from the 24th Expert Review Committee (ERC) for Polio Eradication and Routine Immunization, which was convened from September 10-11 2012 in Abuja, Nigeria. Since the 2012 World Health Assembly declared completion of polio eradication a global public health emergency, this is the first meeting of the ERC. The...

Final Report from the Nigeria [Polio] Communication Review

"Pressure from above (government and traditional leadership) is essential to the programme but ultimately it will need to combine this with pressure from below in which passively compliant and non-compliant communities move not just to accept polio vaccine if offered at the door but to view it as an important and valued health service for...

Tsangaya School Strategy

To address an upsurge of polio cases in Nigeria in August 2012, the United Nations Children's (UNICEF), with the support of the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), engaged in a collaboration with Koranic school teachers ("Tsangaya teachers").

Innovative Smartphone Partnership Fights Polio in Northern Nigeria

This article describes a public-private partnership to fight polio in Nigeria that harnesses the power of smartphones to monitor real-time performance of vaccination teams during door-to-door campaigns. Using global positioning system (GPS) data, a specially designed android application helps map the location of communities in high-risk areas...

Pakistan

A World without Polio

This video documents the work of one former Rotarian (Rotary Club, Peshawar District 3270, Pakistan) to contribute to the global effort to eradicate polio. Syed Feroz Shah talks the viewer through his journey to remote, rural areas of Area Manzari Cheen Bezai, Mohmand Agency, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Pakistan. This work...

How to convince the common population for Polio Eradication

Reasons and Remedies of the OPV Refusal Cases in Polio NIDS in FATA, Pakistan

Background on FATA [Federally Administered Tribal Areas], Pakistan's Polio refusal cases:

An Insight to the Development of Communication Strategy for Polio Eradication in FATA Pakistan

INTRODUCTION:

 

As we know, 80 percent of the population of Pakistan is living in rural areas, and the overall literacy rate is not more than 45 percent. Keeping in view the above facts, most of the population have sufficient knowledge about the Malaria, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis B (HBV)& C virus, but, unfortunately, a very...

Polio NID September 2008

A Pragmatic Approach for Polio Eradication in FATA Pakistan

With compassion, commitment, and courage, members of the Rotary Club of Peshawar, Pakistan, recently helped immunize children in one of the most remote and dangerous parts of the world.

Members of the club took part in the country's 15-17 September [2008] Subnational Immunization Days, reaching children in a federally administered...

Reflections on Experience: Towards More Effective Polio Communication Reviews

"I have had the very real privilege of being involved in the Global Polio Eradication initiative (GPEI) for the past 7 or 8 years. My vantage point has been somewhat unique as someone who sits outside the main implementing organisations but has nevertheless had an opportunity to see the programme close up."

Taking a step forward - bringing students from Medical Colleges for Polio Eradication

Balochistan is 45% of the geographical area of Pakistan and only 5% of the population. More than 75% of the population of Balochistan lives in rural areas, and it has one of the weakest healthcare infrastructures in the country. The tertiary care hospitals in the provincial capital Quetta are considered crucial settings for the polio...

Treating Polio in Afghanistan

This news story captures the way that children are being immunised as they cross the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. At the checkpoint, where approximately 50,000 people pass through daily, children under the age of 5 years are ushered into a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) shelter. There, polio volunteers administer drops and...

Parental Perceptions Surrounding Polio and Self-Reported Non-Participation in Polio Supplementary Immunization Activities in Karachi, Pakistan

"Lack of knowledge about polio, lack of faith in the vaccine’s effectiveness, misperceptions about vaccine-related adverse events (e.g. infertility) and mistrust among Pashtuns make it highly likely that poliovirus transmission will continue in this population unless specific targeted activities are undertaken to promote vaccination."...

WHO Denounces CIA for Misusing Anti-Polio Drive

"We need to promote community ownership of the vaccination drive so that the masses themselves are empowered to stand up against forces opposed to administration of polio drops to children."

Afghanistan

Reflections on Experience: Towards More Effective Polio Communication Reviews

"I have had the very real privilege of being involved in the Global Polio Eradication initiative (GPEI) for the past 7 or 8 years. My vantage point has been somewhat unique as someone who sits outside the main implementing organisations but has nevertheless had an opportunity to see the programme close up."

Treating Polio in Afghanistan

This news story captures the way that children are being immunised as they cross the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. At the checkpoint, where approximately 50,000 people pass through daily, children under the age of 5 years are ushered into a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) shelter. There, polio volunteers administer drops and...

Follow up to the Independent Review of the Afghanistan Polio Eradication Programme Held in July 2012

"The Afghanistan polio programme continues to work in extraordinary circumstances and in an environment that is not only physically dangerous but also fluid and extremely challenging to manage."

Missed: Polio Communications Quarterly Update

"The past 18 months have seen the emergence of a powerful platform to collect and analyze social data, and the birth and subsequent growth of a network of skilled community mobilizers who contribute contextual evidence about the feelings, opinions and other variables responsible for many of the same children being repeatedly missed."...

Empowering Women on the Frontlines

"With the ability to speak woman to woman or mother to mother, female workers hold great sway over the vaccination process."

Polio News - February 2012 Edition

Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)'s Polio News, February 2012, shares news and information about polio eradication efforts worldwide in the wake of the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). Selected news items include:

Polio Communications Quarterly Update - January 2012

"Never has there been so much pressure to deliver on communications and social mobilization [in an effort to eradicate polio] at country level..."

External Polio Communication Review: Afghanistan

This report from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) presents the findings of an independent polio communication review conducted in Afghanistan, a polio-endemic country, as part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). In view of the usefulness of these reviews to objectively evaluate the existing communication strategies and...

Traveling the Last Mile

Editor's note: From Jawahir Habib of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Pakistan, the blog entry below shares perspectives on efforts to deliver the oral polio vaccine (OPV) within the remaining polio-endemic countries in the context of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI). (...

India

Three Reasons to Celebrate Women Working to End Polio, This Mother's Day

"I feel more confident than ever that the empowered and enlightened mothers of our time will continue to be the change agents in our societies with continued resilience in initiatives such as vaccination, family planning and basic education."

Speaking from his own experience in India, in this blog entry, Dr. Ananda...

Reflections on Experience: Towards More Effective Polio Communication Reviews

"I have had the very real privilege of being involved in the Global Polio Eradication initiative (GPEI) for the past 7 or 8 years. My vantage point has been somewhat unique as someone who sits outside the main implementing organisations but has nevertheless had an opportunity to see the programme close up."

Q & A: How India Stopped Polio

This interview was conducted to mark the anniversary of a polio milestone in India: 2 years without reporting a single case of polio. To learn more about the strategies that led to this accomplishment, including communication strategies, Eric Porterfield talked with Jeffrey Bates, a Polio C4D Officer (Communication for Development) at one of...

Eradicating Polio: How One Man Changed His View on Vaccines

"Unfortunately, when a parent questions the value of vaccines, he puts his entire community at risk. But as I learned in India in 2008, this shared risk can sometimes be part of the solution."

India Makes Inroads on Polio as Mosques Spread the Word

Written from the perspective of a female Islamic United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) polio field worker, this article describes strategies that health workers in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh (UP), India, have used to overcome cultural mistrust about polio immunisation by turning to local Muslim clerics for support. Aligarh was previously...

CORE Group Polio Project (CGPP) India Website

This online resource includes polio communication resources developed by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and CORE, who started working together in India in 2003 as the Social Mobilization Network (SM Net) to provide concentrated support for immunisation in high-risk areas (HRAs) of Uttar Pradesh (UP). Working in 12 districts of UP...

Polio Chowk in Moradabad: Civil Society Contribution for Polio Eradication

This photo essay from the CORE Group Polio Project (CGPP) illustrates the installation of a statue depicting a mother and child. Unveiled on February 23 2013, the day prior to the National Immunisation Day (NID), the monument, "Polio Chowk", is located...

Successful Polio Eradication in Uttar Pradesh, India: The Pivotal Contribution of the Social Mobilization Network, an NGO/UNICEF Collaboration

"Community mobilization coordinators played a critical role in reducing community resistance to vaccination."

Nurturing Trees Nurturing Lives

Launched on February 24 2013, the one-year anniversary of the day India was removed from the World Health Organization (WHO)'s polio endemic list, this campaign involves Indian cricket star Suresh Raina working with youth and children to communicate the importance of vaccination for a healthy life.