Zong and UNICEF Join Hands to Defeat Polio in Pakistan

Zong, one of Pakistan's major mobile operators, partnered with UNICEF to support polio eradication through nationwide awareness messaging.

Why telecom partnerships matter here

Pakistan has one of the largest mobile subscriber bases in the world, and mobile phone penetration reaches communities that other media do not. A family in a remote Balochistan settlement may have no reliable electricity, no newspaper delivery and limited television access — and still have a working mobile phone.

For a programme whose hardest problem is reaching specific households in specific union councils, that matters. Mobile channels allow messaging to be targeted geographically, timed to campaign rounds, and delivered in the language the household actually speaks.

What these partnerships typically deliver

• Campaign timing messages — SMS and voice notifications telling families when teams will be in their area.
• Regional language content — voice messages in Pashto, Sindhi, Balochi, Saraiki and Brahui, which reach households where written material does not.
• Geographic targeting — concentrating messaging on districts with active transmission or high refusal rates.
• Misconception correction — direct answers to the claims that drive refusals, particularly around vaccine safety and infertility.
• Helpline promotion — awareness of the toll-free Sehat Tahaffuz helpline on 1166, through which families report missed vaccination teams.

UNICEF's role

Within Pakistan's polio programme, UNICEF leads communication, community engagement and demand generation — the work of making families willing to open the door, as distinct from the operational work of getting a team to it. It also procures vaccine and maintains the cold chain. See partners and donors.

What messaging can and cannot do

Mass communication raises awareness and reinforces campaign timing. It does not, on its own, change the mind of a parent who has refused on religious grounds or out of distrust — that requires a trusted local voice, whether a religious scholar, a community elder or a female mobiliser from the same neighbourhood.

The programme's own analysis is consistent on this point: the messenger determines whether the message is accepted. Mass channels create the conditions; personal engagement closes the gap. See parental refusals.

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