Report
When the 'Unrecognized' Became Essential: How Informal Health Practitioners Helped Vaccinate 58 Zero-Dose Children in Karachi
In some of Karachi’s most vulnerable neighborhoods, the people who ultimately helped children receive their first vaccines were not government vaccinators or public health officials. They were informal private health practitioners, providers who operate small clinics in narrow streets. Critically, the families concerned regarded these health practitioners as their “doctors” of choice.
Our health ecosystem sees these practitioners as outside the formal system. However, our research showed that in resolving protracted issues such as vaccine resistance, their ties of trust to the community could be used innovatively to crack the problem of convincing parents to vaccinate previously unvaccinated children.
Authors
Languages
- English
Publication year
2026
Type
Report
Categories
- Service delivery
Countries
- Pakistan
Tags
- Zero-dose
WHO Regions
- Eastern Mediterranean Region
ZDLA-Pakistan
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The resource is included in the following table:
| Title | Author | Year | Type | Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| When the 'Unrecognized' Became Essential: How Informal Health Practitioners Helped Vaccinate 58 Zero-Dose Children in Karachi | Meerub Amir, Impetus | 2026 | Report | English |
