UNICEF

VIDEO REPORT: Ending religious resistance to the polio vaccine in DR Congo

Though polio has been eradicated from much of the world, it remains a tragic reality in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where transmission of the virus was re-established in 2006. Since 2010, it has affected nearly 200 people.

With the support of UNICEF, the World Health Organization and their partners, the country initiated emergency action plans to address the situation through immunization campaigns and public health programmes.

Yet in spite of multiple countrywide polio vaccination drives in 2011, wild poliovirus remains a threat, in part because some parents continue to refuse to vaccinate their children. Many resisters are fearful of rumors about the vaccine’s side effects or distrust health provider, and in some provinces, parents decline to vaccinate their children out of religious beliefs.

Read more: http://uni.cf/LiCTbr