Children-power in Mexico
Photo-story by Liba Taylor
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A recent National Vacci- nation Day in Mexico harnessed "children- power" to drive home the basic message that many young lives can be saved by systematic immunization in infancy. Schoolchildren marched through the streets of cities and towns carrying banners-some printed, some home-made- proclaim- ing" Polio maims for life," "Vaccinate me: help me" and "Vaccinate child- ren under five years of age."
Health personnel at all levels took to the streets too, making house visits and using microphones and loud-hail- ers to ask parents of small children whether they had been protected.
No doubt the children carried the same messages home to their pa- rents. There was an overwhelming response. Queues formed at health centres and out-patient departments as mothers, and fathers too, brought their babies forward for life-saving inoculations and oral vaccines.
Children-power can play a signifi- cant role in motivating adults and communities to take the crucial steps that will lead to better health. • 24 W ORLO HEALTH, Jan./Feb. 1987
W oRLD HEALTH, Jan./Feb. 1987 25