Kabul: The Afghan Public Health Ministry launched a campaign on Monday to give polio vaccination doses to millions of children under the age of five, the ministry said.
“The campaign is the last polio vaccination drive in 2021. It will continue in two weeks. This week it will cover 21 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. The next drive will cover 13 provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Nimroz, Zabul, Uruzgan, Nangarhar, Kunar, Nuristan, Laghman, Ghazni, Paktika, Balkh, and Ghor,” the ministry said in a statement.
Technically and financially supported by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), the campaign will cover 9.9 million Afghan children, the statement said.
Afghanistan and the neighbouring Pakistan are the only two countries in the world that polio cases are reported every year, according to the statement.
