Surrounded by the wide Kwanza River, the municipality of Calumbo is known for the resilience and hard-working spirit of its people.
Between August 15 and 17, the municipality joined the rest of the country in the First Round of the National Polio Vaccination Campaign.
This large-scale operation mobilised 1,000 health workers to administer 1.5 million doses of vaccine to 100,000 children.
Between August 15 and 17, the municipality joined the rest of the country in the First Round of the National Polio Vaccination Campaign.
This large-scale operation mobilised more than 50,000 health professionals and volunteers to protect around 7 million children under the age of five in all 326 municipalities of Angola.
In Calumbo, dozens of teams visited homes, markets, churches, and taxi stands to ensure that no child was left without receiving the two drops of the oral polio vaccine.
Among the faces of this mobilisation is Francisco Manuel, 26, a student of physical education and sports who started as a community mobilizer and is now a vaccination team supervisor.
“What motivates me to be a supervisor is being able to teach my colleagues how to work and also talk to the population to protect the lives of our children,” he said.
For Francisco, each training session is a weapon against misinformation.
“Thanks to the training we have received, we have been able to change mindsets,” he said. “Today, the community understands that vaccines save lives and that no child should go without being vaccinated.”
Francisco has become a role model for young people and families in the municipality. In addition to his efforts in the fight against polio, he is also involved in volunteer work at the Municipal Hospital of Icolo and Bengo.
At his side is Rosa Joaquim, the municipality’s Child Health Supervisor and coordinator of the Calumbo Vila area, where the goal was to vaccinate 9,002 children.
A nurse with over 20 years of experience in paediatrics, Rosa is intimately familiar with the challenges and achievements of this mission.
“The areas that previously rejected the vaccine now accept it. We changed our strategy: we recruited local people, respected leaders in the neighbourhoods, who helped mobilise families. We also carried out a pre-campaign to raise awareness, which greatly facilitated acceptance,” she explained.
Rosa’s experience and Francisco’s passion demonstrate how the fight against polio is carried out by ordinary people, motivated by a love for their community, working towards a polio-free future. But this mobilisation is not just local. It is part of a national and global effort to eradicate polio once and for all.
From house to house, neighbourhood to neighbourhood, vaccinators across the country are giving hope to millions of families. Only with everyone’s collaboration will it be possible to ensure that no child in Angola is left behind.
