Social mobilisation and community engagement to promote and support uptake of MR vaccine during the MR Campaign of November 2021

These diseases are a common cause for morbidity and mortality in Pakistan, hence requiring immediate attention. Vaccination against Measles has proven to be an effective preventive intervention, especially when coupled with hand-washing and other preventive measures. There is global momentum for Measles and Rubella prevention efforts and in 2021, the Government of Pakistan has planned to introduce the Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccine for children in the routine immunization schedule covering children at 9 and 15 months of age. The MR introduction campaign planned in November 2021 will target children from 9months to less than 15 years of age and aims to reach out to 96 million children through Federal and Provincial EPIs.

With our comparative advantage in C4D and as requested by the Federal EPI Pakistan, UNICEF will be leading the communications component of the MR campaign. To reach target children for measles vaccination mass level community mobilisation and awareness about measles vaccination and its benefits is essential so that parents/caregivers are ready for vaccination of all eligible children during the MR campaign in November 2021.UNICEF is providing communication support to the Federal and Provincial Government for successful community mobilisation and community engagement for this MR campaign in November 2021. UNICEF intends to engage National level CSO with large community outreach for implementation of community mobilization component of this campaign.

Pre-campaign community awareness activities (1^st October 2021 – November 14, 2021)

The following activities will be undertaken during the pre-campaign phase:

• Identification and meetings with the influencers including religious (male/female), political, Tribal/community and include their names on micro-plans for MR Campaign
• Orientation of LSO members/CRPs at Tehsil Levels
• Awareness Sessions in Schools/Refusal Schools
• Mobilise Market Committees/trade unions to create awareness about the MR campaign
• Announcements in Mosques/Religious Places
• LoudspeakerAnnouncements in Streets/bazar
• Awareness session at Community level:

Activities for MR Campaign days (15^th November 2021 – 27^th November 2021)

For vaccination of eligible children during MR campaign dates, Department of Health has deputed dedicated teams at fixed vaccination centers, outreach teams and mobile vaccination teams. Each social mobilisation team (SMT) will closely coordinate with all Union Council Medical Officers (UCMOs) of Department of Health daily of all target UCs and will provide them support in addressing refusals and reaching out to hard-to-reach population for vaccination.

SMTs will also closely coordinate with CRPs, LSOs members and key influencers whose names have been included in micro-plans and will encourage them to provide all required community level support to outreach teams to gather all eligible children for MR Vaccination.