Community engagement and integrated health and polio immunisation campaigns in conflict-affected areas of Pakistan: a cluster randomised controlled trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Pakistan faces huge challenges in eradicating polio due to widespread poliovirus transmission and security challenges. Innovative interventions are urgently needed to strengthen community buy-in, to increase the coverage of oral polio vaccine (OPV) and other routine immunisations, and to enhance immunity through the introduction of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) in combination with OPV. We aimed to evaluate the acceptability and effect on immunisation coverage of an integrated strategy for community engagement and maternal and child health immunisation campaigns in insecure and conflict-affected polio-endemic districts of Pakistan.

Methods

We did a community-based three-arm cluster randomised trial in healthy children aged 1 month to 5 years that resided within t

SUBMITTER: Habib MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5439031 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature