Like other neighboring countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad, Niger continues to record polio cases. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Niger has been facing confirmed circulation of the poliovirus since 2018 in several health districts across the country’s eight regions. Given this situation, the government, with its technical and financial partners, led by WHO and UNICEF, has organized multiple vaccination responses. In support of these responses, and in line with its mandate, UNICEF provides backing for social and behavioral change activities to reinforce community acceptance of polio vaccination. To this end, at the core of the strategies deployed is community monitoring through 1,492 committees, each engaging six community leaders—including youth—to collect and respond to misinformation, manage refusals, and track the broadcasting of radio programs during supplementary polio vaccination activities.

Maradi, the second-largest region in terms of recorded refusals during the 2023 vaccination response—with 18.24% of the 965 cases nationwide—was the focus of attention during the national polio vaccination days in July 2024, where 92 refusal cases were recorded. The Maradi City district accounted for 64.13% (59) of the region’s refusal cases. The approaches used in managing refusals in Maradi City involved the participation of monitoring committees (71.19%) and that of the social mobilization and refusal management sub-committee at the district level (28.81%).