Afghanistan launches polio vaccination targeting 9.1 mln children

KABUL, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) — The Ministry of Public Health of the Afghan caretaker government launched a nationwide polio vaccination campaign on Monday, the government said.

“This is the second general polio vaccination campaign in 2022 aimed at vaccinating 9.1 million children under the age of five,” it said in a statement.

Provinces including Bamyan, Daykundi, and Ghor as well as some districts of Ghazni and Badakhshan provinces are not included in the ongoing campaign due to cold weather, the government said.

The three-day campaign was launched in collaboration with the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), the statement said.

So far in 2022, one positive case of polio has been reported in the Asian country, according to the statement.

Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan are the only two countries in the world that polio cases are reported every year.

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