Health

Polio vaccination campaign kicks off in Afghanistan

Published

on

(Last Updated On: )

Public Health Ministry officials have confirmed that a polio vaccine campaign across 16 provinces was launched on Monday.

Sharaft Zaman Amarkhil, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Health, says that the campaign got underway on Monday in a number of provinces including Kabul, Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan, Zabul, Farah, Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunar, Nuristan and some other provinces.

Amarkhil said the campaign will last for three days and an estimated 6.2 million children under the age of five will receive the anti-polio vaccine.

Zaman called on parents, religious scholars and ethnic elders to cooperate with the ministry’s vaccinators in implementing the anti-polio vaccination campaign for children under five years old in the mentioned provinces.

The World Health Organization meanwhile published its latest Polio Bulletin on Monday and confirmed Afghanistan has recorded 23 cases of Wild Polio Virus so far this year.

Pakistan meanwhile reported two new cases this week – one in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the other in Balochistan province.

Pakistan has recorded a total of 41 cases of polio so far this year, bringing the total between the two countries to 64, against last year’s total of 12 (Afghanistan 6 and Pakistan 6).
World Polio Day

Marking World Polio Day last week, UNICEF pointed out that the current data issues a stark warning that the life-threatening disease continues to thrive in areas where conflict, natural disasters, humanitarian crises, and other destabilizing factors make it difficult to deliver critical healthcare.

“In conflict, children face more than bombs and bullets; they are at risk of deadly diseases that should no longer exist,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

“In many countries, we are witnessing the collapse of healthcare systems, destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure, and the displacement of families, triggering a resurgence of diseases like polio. Children are being left paralyzed, unable to walk, play, or attend school.”

A global decline in childhood immunization has also led to an increase in polio outbreaks, including in countries that had been polio-free for decades.

Nowhere is this more evident than in conflict-affected areas, with 15 out of 21 such countries – including Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen – currently battling polio.

In recent months, UNICEF and partners have intensified emergency responses to surges in polio outbreaks.

In Gaza, for example, UNICEF, in partnership with WHO, reached nearly 600,000 children under 10 years during the first round of a polio vaccination campaign in mid-September. The second and final round has been successfully implemented in south and central Gaza, but renewed mass displacement and bombings have delayed the process in the north.

The campaign follows the return of polio to Gaza for the first time in 25 years.

Trending

Exit mobile version