AFGHANISTAN: Nationwide polio vaccination drive

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

KABUL, 28 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - More than 7 million children under the age of five across Afghanistan will be vaccinated against the crippling polio virus next week as part of a joint United Nations-government initiative, the UN said on Monday.

“Between March 5 and 7, children in all 34 provinces of Afghanistan will receive oral polio vaccines in a joint initiative of the Ministry of Public Health, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO),” Aleem Siddique, senior public information officer for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), told reporters at a press conference at the Afghan capital, Kabul.

About 40,000 people, including volunteers, supervisors, district coordinators and monitors, will be involved in the drive. In addition, some 5.2 million children aged between nine and 59 months will receive Vitamin A supplements during the campaign, Siddique added. Vitamin A boosts resistance against diseases that commonly affect children.

Although Afghanistan has gone a long way towards tackling polio – the country had just seven cases of the disease during 2005 according to health ministry - there are real challenges ahead. “While Afghanistan has taken major steps towards polio eradication in recent years and transmission of the virus is localised in the south, the entire country is still at risk,” Siddique told the briefing.

A lack of security in the south is cited as the main reason for the persistence of polio in the region, particularly in the provinces of Helmand and Urozgan.

“Unfortunately, we had not implemented the polio vaccination drive a hundred percent in Urozgan and Helmand provinces in the past due to ongoing insecurity in the area,” Abdullah Fahim, health ministry spokesman, said.

Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. It can strike at any age, but affects mainly children under three (over 50 percent of all cases). The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine.

Afghanistan is one of just six countries in the world where polio remains endemic: the remaining five are Nigeria, India, Niger, Somali and Pakistan.

The campaign is being funded through contributions from UNICEF, the World Bank, Rotary International and aid arms of the governments of Britain, Japan and the United States.

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