Final Report for “Hit Polio for a Six” Tournament Campaign

This report, which was presented at The Afghanistan Communication Review for Southern and Eastern Afghanistan in Kabul, outlines an initiative in Afghanistan that used cricket tournaments to promote awareness of polio campaigns. The cricket tournaments were held in Kandahar and Khost and attempted to create an environment where rural villages could learn about the importance of polio vaccinations whilst also enjoying a cricket match. The cricket tournaments, dubbed "Hit Polio for a Six" were designed with a polio vaccine-related logo that was printed on all sports clothing, and on banners and posters that were hung during the tournaments.

Media were invited, and they reported on the tournaments; this broadened the reach of the polio vaccination message to an audience who could not physically attend the matches. The tournaments took place in early July to coincide with and support the launch of the annual vaccine campaigns that take place in early August.

A review of the tournaments found them to be successful in reaching communities to raise polio awareness. However, the Kandahar tournament had security issues resulting in lower than expected crowd turnout. In the future, if these tournaments are held again, it was recommended that they be organised with more lead time for planning in order to create more awareness and higher attendance.

Click here to download the full report in PDF format.