To support country-based news media outreach by health officials, as well as regional campaigns with television and radio public service announcements, the colourful printed Monica comic books were produced in English and Spanish and then distributed to schools and health posts. Click here to download "Vaccination: An Act of Love" in PDF format.

The roughly 20-page publication features positive images and language that is designed to diminish the fear of immunisation among children. Here is an excerpt from the introduction (written by PAHO Director Dr. Mirta Roses): "From the moment we're born we get vaccinated, sometimes with a little pinch of a shot, other times with drops. These vaccines protect us from a number of dangerous diseases. But there are thousands of children in other countries who haven't been vaccinated or who haven't gotten all the doses they need to be well protected because they live far from health clinics or because their parents don't know about the benefits of vaccines...Talk about vaccines with your friends at school and your family at home so that everyone understands and no one gets left behind. Help the vaccination teams when they come to your town, your neighborhood or your school. Remember that you need to be healthy if you want to play, jump, dance, ride a bicycle, and live all your dreams," Roses tells readers.

Immunisation & Vaccination, Children.

According to PAHO, Monica is a widely known spokesperson. Her comic books reach children in 40 countries and are printed in 14 languages, including Japanese and Javanese. Since de Sousa created Monica, a billion comic books have been produced. Her website receives 30 million page views a month, PAHO says. This was the third time the cartoon character has helped promote PAHO initiatives. In 2003, Monica was a centrepiece in the "Healthy Environments for children" campaign, and in 2004 she starred in "Road safety is no accident" for World Health Day. The comic books, distributed to health ministries, schools, and other organisations, serve to educate children in what is intended to be a reader-friendly way about various public health issues.

Vaccination Week in the Americas brought together 35 countries in a joint effort to immunise children, women of childbearing age, and older adults, focusing on those who live in remote areas and have been left behind due to lack of access or information. In some countries, the initiative continues, with thousands of health workers moving out on buses, bicycles, cars and boats to remote places and border areas in an effort to improve vaccination coverage. Preliminary outcomes show that the goal of vaccinating 40 million persons was reached.

Vaccination Week in the Americas will be carried out again in 2005, with the continued use of Monica, and possible expansion in 2006 to the European Region of the World Health Organization (WHO).