ISLAMABAD, Afghanistan (AP) – The Afghan Ministry of Health announced Sunday the start of a four-day nationwide campaign to vaccinate children under the age of five against polio.
For the past three years, until they took control of Afghanistan, the Taliban prevented vaccination teams organized by the United Nations from campaigning door-to-door in the areas it controlled. The group reportedly suspected that the team members could be spies for the previous government or the West.
Due to this veto and the fighting, in the last three years some 3.3 million children went unvaccinated.
“Without a doubt, polio is a disease that without treatment will kill our children or cause permanent disability, so in this case the only way is to implement vaccination,” said Dr. Qalandar Ebad, acting Minister of Health of the Taliban.
Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan are the only countries in the world where polio remains endemic, and the disease can cause partial paralysis in children. Since 2010, the country has conducted regular immunization campaigns in which workers go door-to-door to vaccinate children. Most of the workers are women, who have better access to mothers and children.
The four-day campaign will begin on Monday and run across the country, Ebad said. The target population is about 10 million Afghan children under the age of five, including the more than 3.3 million who could not be vaccinated since 2018.
The Taliban’s reported support for the campaign seemed aimed at showing the international community that the group is willing to cooperate with international agencies. The contingent, which was an insurgent force for years, is trying to gain international recognition for its new government and reopen the door to international aid to rescue its ailing economy.
The World Health Organization and the United Nations agency for children, UNICEF, celebrated last month in a joint statement the decision of the Taliban leaders to resume vaccination campaigns throughout the country.
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