Mia Farrow Travels to CAR to Support the Fight Against Polio

Guy Deegan: You’re watching UNICEF television.

Vaccinating children against to polio, the disease UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow knows to all to well. The internationally acclaimed actress began her week long visit to the central African republic by launching a three-day polio vaccination campaign in Bangui with the country's first lady, Monique Bozize.

Ms. Farrow suffered from polio as a child. UNICEF and its partners are supporting the Central African Republic's efforts to make the country free of the debilitating virus.

Mia Farrow: I first joined UNICEF on the initiative to eradicate polio. I had polio myself as a child and was fortunate enough to have survived it without any real damage, but I have a son who is adopted from India and who is paraplegic as a result of polio. So I was happy to join UNICEF and the World Health Programme in the initiative to eradicate polio. Unfortunately we're not there yet and it's so wonderful the first lady came, it really makes polio a first tier issue.

Guy Deegan: It's the second time Ms. Farrow has visited the Central African Republic. Child mortality is high. More than three quarters of the country's four million population do not have access to adequate sanitation. Having seen for herself the suffering of people displaced by conflict within the Central African Republic, and the plight of refugees who have fled Chad and Sudan, Ms. Farrow hopes her visit will draw attention to a fragile state left behind in a violent region.

Mia Farrow: So by coming here as a UNICEF representative I hope to bring the focus back to the children. The children so desperately need support through this very difficult time. It's been ten years of warfare and it's been the children and women who have suffered most.

Guy Deegan: Ms. Farrow will be traveling extensively throughout the country and will visit new bush schools, sites for internally displaced people and refugees from Darfur, along with UNICEF programmes boosting child health and access to clean water and sanitation.

In Bangui capital of the Central African Republic, this is Guy Deegan reporting for UNICEF television. Unite for Children.