In DR Congo, Polio Survivors Advocate on Behalf of Immunization Efforts

Created as part of World Immunization Week, April 2012, this video shares an example of how one United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) office is engaging in immunisation campaigns and raising awareness about the importance of vaccines to child survival. In the video, UNICEF correspondent Natacha Ikoli reports on a sports journalist in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who has dedicated his life to polio eradication efforts.

Roger Vuanda Movita was 2 years old when polio took away his ability to walk. At 58 years old, he became a sports journalist in Bas-Congo Province of the DRC, and he is showed here in the video as a passionate advocate on behalf of polio eradication efforts via radio and television channels. When an outbreak of polio occurred in the Kimvula "health zone" of his province, Mr. Movita left on a 20-day-long UNICEF-supported mission to mobilise community members and leaders in support of immunisation efforts. He visited local markets, villages, and schools, speaking about his own experience and explaining why polio is a threat. He also visited leaders and families who resisted immunisation efforts.

According to UNICEF, his intervention was critical to increasing people's understanding of the disease and decreasing levels of vaccine refusal.