School children’s engagement as ‘Health Advocates’ lift immunization awareness, routine vaccine uptake

PESHAWAR, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th May, 2026) An innovative initiative of engaging schoolchildren as ‘Health Advocates’ in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has helped strengthen immunization awareness, improve household behavioural change and increase in uptake of routine vaccination.

The exercise, titled “School-to-Home Outreach,” was launched to strengthen demand generation for routine immunization, reduce the number of zero-dose children and address persistent vaccine hesitancy in underserved and hard-to-reach communities.

Despite ongoing services under the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), field monitoring continued to identify under-immunized and zero-dose children, mainly due to misinformation, low caregiver awareness, and weak communication at the household level.

“To complement routine immunization services, the School-to-Home Health Outreach Initiative was implemented as a key community engagement component of the broader MERF-GAVI Immunization Project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, covering Peshawar, Khyber, Kurram, and Karak districts,” said Dr. Junaid, Project Lead MERF.

Under this approach, trained outreach workers engaged schoolchildren as community health advocates and EPI champions, enabling them to promote immunization awareness within their households and communities, particularly in high-hesitancy and hard-to-reach areas.

Outreach workers identified key government schools within their assigned areas, coordinated with school administrations, and conducted structured awareness sessions for students.

Elder students were actively engaged as health messengers, linking classroom learning with communication at the household level.

Since the launch of the initiative, a total of 1,248 structured awareness sessions have been conducted across participating schools, ensuring consistent engagement and reinforcement of EPI messages over time. These sessions enabled students to actively share immunization-related messages with their families and communities, making them trusted sources of health information within households.

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Through this integrated approach, students carried immunization messaging beyond schools into homes and communities, contributing to improved awareness and positive behavioural change regarding routine vaccination.

The initiative reached an estimated 15,600 households and sensitized around 46,800 individuals across the four districts.

Outreach workers reported that children frequently reminded families about vaccination schedules, encouraged caregivers to attend EPI sessions, and helped address misconceptions related to vaccines at the household level.

During the campaign, 52 outreach workers were deployed across the four districts. A total of 1,248 structured school awareness sessions were conducted, while 130 schools were directly engaged through outreach coverage.

In Khyber district, a noticeable reduction in vaccine refusal trends was observed in intervention areas, particularly during outreach activities linked with schools. In Peshawar, urban informal settlements reported improved turnout and participation in vaccination sessions.

In Kurram, student-led engagement played a vital role in countering misinformation in remote communities, while in Karak, improved coordination between schools and EPI teams strengthened follow-up and ensured completion of vaccination for defaulter children.

A caregiver from Khyber district said, “When my child brings health messages from school every month, we pay attention. Now we never miss vaccination days.”

An outreach worker remarked, “Children became the strongest and most trusted messengers in the community, especially in areas where access and acceptance were difficult.”

The School-to-Home Health Outreach Initiative demonstrated that structured engagement of schoolchildren, supported by regular outreach sessions and strong community linkages, can significantly improve immunization awareness and strengthen routine vaccination uptake.