Voice of America

March 22 2007

This article describes how polio victims in Kano, Nigeria, are helping to educate parents about the importance of immunising their children with the polio vaccine. Members of the Polio Victims Trust Association, which consists of people who have been affected by polio, use their disabilities to shock reluctant parents into immunising their children.

Members of the association travel to areas where parents have refused vaccination to show them, first-hand, the effects that polio has had on their lives. According to Mohammed Doko, who works closely with polio victims, Kano’s polio victims have played an important role in convincing parents to immunise their children. "Most polio victims are from here," he said. “The people here identify with them, they know them. So they accept messages coming from them. And especially seeing them crawling on the ground has a very deep impact on parents."

Voice of America, March 22 2007.