Issue: Faced with the largest polio epidemic in the
country’s history, the Indonesian government and the
United Nations launched a highly ambitious, nationwide
immunization campaign to vaccinate 24 million children.
Polio requires that each child requires several doses of
the vaccine.
Solution: After several nationwide rounds of immunization,
there were fears that parents would not understand
the need for repeated doses of the vaccine.
Many people still believed children could recover from
paralysis.
We developed a media and PSA campaign dubbed
“Waktu tak bisa diputar” (Can’t turn back time) that featured
a polio victim. This more direct approach had not
been done before. The campaign along with extensive
social mobilization and media activities contributed to
ending the epidemic. Today Indonesia is,once again,
polio free.
