Lucas becomes a mobilizer in the polio vaccination campaign to help his community in Mozambique
“This is where my country thought I could make a difference, a difference for our children who are the future.”
Varela, Quelimane - The car just dropped us in the middle of nowhere and we started walking through the fields together with the World Health Organization (WHO) team and the supervisor from the Health Center of Varela at the periphery for Quelimane, in Zambézia province. A child with a case of acute flaccid paralysis (PFA) has been notified by the mobilizer of a vaccination team. Jumping the puddles because of the recent rain, we soon crossed the path of a tall and quiet man, with a holistic posture.
We followed him without saying a word. His name is Lucas João Rufai, he is 44 years old, he was born in Madal, in the neighborhood of Naquecha, not far from Varela. Lucas is a farmer and exploits his fields to make a living and offer a decent life to his family. Since the beginning of the month, Lucas has embarked on a different journey, he is a mobilizer in the polio vaccination campaign that is running in all of Zambézia province.
Lucas takes his role at heart: “It is the health professional that came to talk to me and proposed me to be part of the campaign as I know lots of people in the neighborhood,” he said.
Polio is a very dangerous disease and Mozambique was free of the disease since 2016, but three new cases have been identified in the district of Molumbo during an epidemiological vigilance exercise. United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) together with the Ministry of Health and WHO have joined the effort to block the propagation of this disease with setting up a door to door vaccination campaign to vaccinate all children from 0 to 59 months in all 22 districts of Zambézia and some neighbor districts of Niassa and Nampula provinces. This campaign which is part of the global polio eradication has been designed so that the community leaders have a fundamental role to sensitize the parents to adhere to the campaign. More than 1.5 million children have been vaccinated during the first round of the Polio vaccination campaign
“Children with a disability is heartbreaking and a big problem and prejudice for our society. Children shall be healthy especially when we can prevent the disease,” he nodded.
Lucas decided to be part of the campaign without hesitation, “This is where my country thought I could make a difference, a difference for our children who are the future.”
Since the beginning of the campaign, Lucas has been participating actively, mobilizing his people and neighbors, despite the long hours of walking under the sun to reach the houses and the little time given for this activity.
“There are very few days to convince and vaccinate the children, regardless of the challenges, I am enjoying explaining the disease and the campaign to the parents.”
“I was very excited yesterday when I went to the Igreja Adventista do Sétimo Dia to mobilize for the vaccination campaign, lots of people agree and we vaccinated lots of kids. I felt proud and happy.”
Lucas is happy to contribute to a better world for the children of his neighborhood. “It is a challenge to live here, the water we have is not good”. “I wish for our kids better health and a possibility to study, may this vaccination campaign keep our children healthy.”
Quelimane has completed his first round of vaccination vaccinating 53 581 children on 24 March and will embark in the second round at the end of April. So far, more than 1.5 million children have been vaccinated during the first round of the polio vaccination campaign in Zambézia.
