Mass polio inoculation goes on in Africa

During five days of synchronized immunizations more than 16 million African children received the vaccine that will protect them from polio.

By Cynde Strand
CNN

LITOMBE ISLAND, Democratic Republic of Congo (CNN) -- Fanning across African countries, the legion of volunteers set out to eradicate an affliction that hobbles the legs and psyches of those who lack access to vaccines.

The disease is polio -- a malady extinguished from most of the world but surviving in 20 countries -- and volunteers from the United Nations Children's Fund hope to wipe it out by 2005. The numbers illustrate the size of the task and the simplicity of the treatment: five days of synchronized immunizations, 16 million children, and two drops that will protect them from the crippling disease.

The volunteers set out with coolers to keep the vaccine fresh until they reached Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and Congo-Brassaville. Some of the children wore their finest clothes for their immunization.

RESOURCES FYI Lesson Plan: Polio vaccinations

But because of the war and uneasy times that plague the region, people live in fear. An awareness campaign began months before the volunteers began immunizing.

Conditions in the area complicated delivery of the vaccine. "There is no electricity. You can't travel by road in many parts of the country," said Carol Bellamy, UNICEF's executive director. "In Congo, again, you have to go in by plane and there is war going on."

Leaders of countries in the region called for "Days of Tranquility" to facilitate the immunizations. But they still could not cross the front lines in Angola. And one infected child puts all children at risk because children who are not immunized and cross borders to safety can reintroduce the virus to polio-free neighbors.

"I deeply regret what I see here every day," said Celestine Mpaka Making, director of the Polio Rehabilitation Center. "The suffering -- physically, morally and psychologically. They feel so inferior and just a few drops would have made it possible to avoid all this."