Photography exhibition ‘Immunization for All is Humanly Possible’ in the city of Ambovombe / Inauguration of the new UNICEF building in Androy

Ambovombe, 15 July 2025 – The town of Ambovombe is hosting a four-day photo exhibition entitled ‘Immunization for All is Humanly Possible’. The official opening was attended by the Governor, local authorities and the UNICEF Representative in Madagascar. The opening coincided with the official inauguration of the new UNICEF building in Ambovombe.

Androy is the third region to host this event after Atsimo Andrefana. For 2025, four regions were selected to raise public awareness regarding the importance of fighting polio and promoting routine vaccination. It also aims to encourage catch-up vaccination for unvaccinated or under-vaccinated children. Currently, the vaccination coverage rate in the region stands at 69 per cent, which is well below national targets. This exhibition is a call for collective action to strengthen equitable access to vaccination and mobilise communities around this vital issue.

This exhibition showcases the efforts made in terms of mass vaccination, strengthened epidemiological surveillance and local communication, which have effectively broken the chain of poliovirus transmission. Each photograph pays tribute to the heroes of vaccination: health workers and community workers, mobilised communities, committed parents and the many actors who work daily to vaccinate every child, even in the most isolated areas.

Thus, on 20 May 2025, at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, the Malagasy Government, through the Ministry of Public Health, in collaboration with the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, announced the official end of the circulating type 1 poliovirus epidemic in Madagascar. More than 19 million children under the age of 5 have been vaccinated across the country thanks to the mobilisation of thousands of health workers and community workers and the unwavering support of technical and financial partners.

At the same time, the inauguration of the new UNICEF building in Androy demonstrates the organisation's strengthened commitment to children and families in the region. This new workspace aims to bring the organisation closer to the realities on the ground, to reinforce collaboration with local authorities and to improve the impact of multisectoral interventions in key areas affecting children: health, nutrition, education, child protection and access to water. Indeed, since 2022, when the decentralisation of UNICEF activities in the region took place, the interventions carried out have reached more than 750,000 children.