When Brian Skalak describes his work, he doesn’t talk about computer code or camera rigs. He talks about people – the health workers ferrying boxes of fragile vaccines across flooded roads and rivers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the communities waiting in remote villages for protection from polio, and the decision-makers thousands of miles away who finally understand, through virtual reality, what it takes to reach every child.
Skalak is the director of engagement at REM5 STUDIOS, a Minnesota-based production company that’s redefining how global health stories are told. In partnership with the Gates Foundation and other members of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), his team has developed a series of immersive virtual reality (VR) experiences that bring viewers face-to-face with the realities of vaccine delivery.
Their latest project, Apporter La Vie – meaning Delivering Life – takes audiences deep into the DRC, following frontline worker Kasongo as he transports vaccines through sweltering heat, torrential rain, and hundreds of kilometres of inland waterways. It’s a journey few outsiders ever see, yet one that underpins the global mission to eradicate polio and expand immunisation to all children.
