To communicate awareness on the benefits of vaccines to the Afghani population, especially the majority who live in rural areas with minimal access to media, innovative and culturally acceptable interventions are being used to generate demand for immunization. The Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), with support from GHD|EMPHNET, is engaging religious leaders in building trust in immunization services and create demand for immunization services. This intervention will rely on religious leaders to communicate the benefits of vaccines to community elders and other community members in the context of community dialogue sessions. This intervention will target the Farah and Laghman provinces.

GHD|EMPHNET is building on the success of its previous collaboration with the MOPH in significantly increasing demand for vaccination in five provinces in Afghanistan: Helmand, Kandahar, Kunar, Laghman, and Nangarhar. Appropriate communication interventions for improving knowledge and attitudes regarding immunization services were used, one of which relied on the engagement religious leaders. This success has been measured by a KAP study which reported that the knowledge of respondents about vaccine protection was increased from 24% to 74%.