This programme uses information and communication technology (ICT) - in the form of film and the Internet - to supply journalists with the footage they need to inform citizens around the world about the NIDs. By disseminating news about events associated with the NIDs and sharing progress that such vaccination efforts are making to meet global Polio eradication goals, UNICEF hopes to mobilise communities to participate in greater numbers.

Through an email campaign and an icon on the UNICEF website, UNICEF hoped to make national television broadcasters aware of the The NewsMarket. This online broadcast news distribution service enables journalists to find, preview, organise, obtain, and contribute free video and other multimedia content. As part of this "digital downloading" or "digital delivery" process, digital video files are encoded in MPEG-2 format for transfer, via the Internet, directly into newsrooms that are suitably equipped.

As part of the 2005 NIDs, UNICEF provided its own video images on polio immunisation to The NewsMarket in an effort to make them accessible for use in broadcasts around the world. As of this writing, the icon supplied on the UNICEF home page, labelled "video on demand", leads directly to a "personalised" page on the NewsMarket website that features exclusively UNICEF- or NID-related video footage. The aim is to make broadcast-standard video available to broadcasters in as timely and convenient a manner as possible.

Immunisation & Vaccines.

To learn more about the NIDs, and to access a calendar of related events (updated weekly), click here.

The NewsMarket was launched in March 2003 by a group of journalists and public relations professionals who sought to "create a tool that would enable news professionals to harness the power and immediacy of the Internet to more efficiently source video and other multimedia content." According to The NewsMarket, more than 4,000 media outlets in 75 countries use the service to "create better and timelier news and feature programming" in a cost-effective way. Key partners of this private company include Telestream, APTN (Associated Press Television News) and Microsoft.