In the Boucle du Mouhoun region, community health workers reached isolated and displaced families by bicycle, traveling 10–15 km per day with vaccines carried in UNICEF-supported cold boxes. During the November 2025 campaign, one team alone vaccinated 1,499 children, helping the area reach 95% coverage despite insecurity and access constraints. By combining persistence, local trust, and community dialogue, frontline workers turned logistical barriers into a successful, community-driven response to protect children from polio.
During the November 2025 polio vaccination days in Zabré, health teams introduced night-time vaccination visits (8–10 pm) to reach children missed during the day while parents worked in the fields. Over three evenings in Kenoko and Bourma, teams vaccinated 97 children who had previously been unreached, significantly improving coverage. The initiative was welcomed by communities as a practical, respectful adaptation to local realities and demonstrated how flexible delivery approaches can close immunity gaps in rural, agriculture-dependent settings. Read more: Night-time vaccination to reach
Papua New Guinea launched the second round of its nationwide Polio Immunization Campaign on 13 October 2025, building on the lessons and successes of Round 1. With UNICEF’s support, PNG is taking action to protect its children and stop the current polio outbreak. This feature reflects on the triumphs of the first round and highlights how all efforts are now focused on the next round of immunizations.
When Papua New Guinea confirmed its first polio outbreak in seven years this May, the Digital Community Engagement team faced a daunting puzzle wrapped. How do you mobilize parents to vaccinate their children in a country where the most used social media platform has just been banned, over 100 languages are spoken, and many families hadn’t heard the word "polio" in a generation? The answer lays in adaptive strategy. The PNG campaign would become a masterclass in in how DCE combines constraints, creativity, and community understanding — adaptive strategy — achieving five times its reach targets despite being one of the most challenging digital environments in the world.
Digital spaces have become one of the most critical frontlines in the effort to eradicate polio. As misinformation spreads faster than ever, influencing decisions in communities worldwide, UNICEF’s Digital Community Engagement (DCE) approach ensures that the right information reaches the right people at the right time.
The governments of Cameroon, Chad, the Central African Republic, Niger, and Nigeria are leading the charge to end polio in the Lake Chad Basin. Writing about this powerful collaboration, UNICEF’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Gilles Fagninou, underscores how strong national leadership and close partnerships are vital in the effort to reach every child and deliver a polio free world.
In humanitarian emergencies, misinformation can spread faster than facts. In Gaza, where a polio outbreak has been unfolding amid devastating conflict, social media has become both a battleground and a lifeline. To monitor and respond to emerging narratives in real time, UNICEF and partners are leveraging Polio Pulse, a rumor-tracking system that collects, analyzes, and categorizes online discourse around polio and immunization.
In Afghanistan, the path to polio eradication is no longer siloed—it is integrated, people-centered, and rooted in the broader system of care. Through health camps and frontline outreach, vaccination is now delivered alongside essential services like nutrition, hygiene, and outpatient support. This shift toward Integrated Service Delivery (ISD) is transforming community trust—and helping close immunity gaps in the most underserved areas.
In May 2025, Niger mobilized more than 24,000 trained agents and community volunteers to reach 9.2 million people during a nationwide polio vaccination campaign. Nearly 3.9 million children received life-saving oral polio vaccines across urban centers and remote areas alike—including transhumant communities. But beyond the numbers, the campaign has brought to light personal stories of resilience, visibility, and transformation. One such story belongs to a woman in Niamey who survived polio and now fights to ensure no child has to go through what she experienced.
