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STORY: DR CONGO / POLIO
TRT: 3.17
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: FRENCH / SWAHILI / NATS
DATELINE: 25-28 MAY 2011, LUBUMBASHI AND KALEMIE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
25-28 MAY 2011, KALEMIE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
1. Med shot, several polio vaccine volunteers walking through the mountainous parts of Kalemie
2. Wide Shot, several volunteers reach a family at a hut
3. Close up, child receives drops of the polio vaccine and drops of Vitamin A
4. SOUNDBITE (French) Chrispin Aloma-Shabani, UNICEF volunteer:
“First of all I am Congolese. As Congolese I need to help to vaccinate the children to protect them, for their future.”
5. Close up, child’s face
6. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Faila Kyeusi-Ngoyi, mother of polio victim:
“Earlier this year my youngest child took fever. I took him to the hospital and they said he would be paralyzed for the rest of his live. That he has polio. I never heard of that disease.”
7. Close up, musicians drumming at launch campaign
8. Wide shot, Ministerial cavalcade arrives
9. Wide shot, minister, officials and volunteers at launch of campaign, walking to a house where they will vaccinate a child
10. SOUNDBITE (French) Viktor Makwenge Kaput, DRC Health Minister:
“The objective is total eradication. We are in Kalemie because this virus has done the tour of the country and came here. So we have to cut the circle. We came here to cut the circle.”
11. Close up, Minister gives vaccine to child
12. SOUNDBITE (French) Pierrette Vu Thi, UNICEF Representative, DRC:
“Nationally the challenge is to tackle this crisis, to vaccinate the children and do this campaign and on long term to look at the situation of routine vaccinations.”
25-28 MAY 2011, LUBUMBASHI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
13. Med shot, health worker brings polio vaccines into cold chamber
14. Close up, thermometer
15. Med shot, health worker unloading vaccines
16. Close up, vaccines
25-28 MAY 2011, KALEMIE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
17. Wide shot, volunteers arrive at pre-school
18. Med shot, children line up
19. Close up, girl gets vaccine
20. Med shot, wide corridor of local hospital
21. Various shots, paralyzed mother who first refused her children to be vaccinated but then finally accepted
22. Med shot, volunteer walks through local market to announce the arrival of the vaccination team
23. Wide shot, volunteer indicates where mothers need to bring their children to be vaccinated
24. Med shot, mothers with babies walking through the market
25. Wide shot, mothers with their children gathered around the polio vaccination team at the corner of the market
26. Close up, child being vaccinated
Polio vaccination volunteers are back crisscrossing the villages and towns of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The paralyzing disease was thought to be eradicated at the turn of the century.
UNICEF, its partners and the Congolese health authorities have sent volunteers across DRC to target all children under five. Many live in difficult to reach areas, but volunteers remain committed to deliver the vaccine.
SOUNDBITE (French) Chrispin Aloma-Shabani, UNICEF volunteer:
“First of all I am Congolese. As Congolese I need to help to vaccinate the children to protect them; for their future.”
Unfortunately for some the vaccine came too late.
SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Faila Kyeusi-Ngoyi, mother of polio victim:
“Earlier this year my youngest child took fever. I took him to the hospital and they said he would be paralysed for the rest of his live. That he has polio. I never heard of that disease.”
Amidst the fanfare of a great event, the new polio vaccination drive was launched in Kalemie in Eastern DRC.
Viktor Makwenge Kaput, Congo’s Health Minister, gave the first vaccine drops to a local child to kick start the campaign.
SOUNDBITE (French) Victor Makwenge Kaput, DRC Health Minister:
“The objective is total eradication. We are in Kalemie because this virus has done the tour of the country and came here. So we have to cut the circle. We came here to cut the circle.”
There is renewed hope to eradicate polio but a frail health infrastructure, cross-border population flows and weak monitoring systems are some of the biggest challenges.
SOUNDBITE (French) Pierrette Vu Thi, UNICEF representative in DRC:
“Nationally the challenge is to tackle this crisis, to vaccinate the children and do this campaign and on long term to look at the situation of routine vaccinations.”
To help preserve the vaccine the international community has built a cold chamber in the provincial capital of Lubumbashi. The town is a hub for the distribution of vaccines and other medical necessities through south eastern DRC.
Back in Kalemie one of the mobile teams begins their day in this pre-school. Children line up to receive the vaccine and Vitamin A.
One of the key obstacles in this region has been animist groups who preach against the vaccine. They say it’s a ploy to sterilize the Congolese. Old beliefs and rumours are hard to overcome in this remote part of Africa.
This mother, herself paralyzed by polio when she was a baby, had so far refused to let her 2 children be vaccinated. Only after several visits did volunteers convince her to allow her children to be vaccinated.
At a local market a team leader spreads the message while mothers and children group together to receive the vaccine and the vitamin A booster.
For volunteers, this is just another stop in the battle against polio.
