Afghanistan: The United Nations has shown concerns over the Taliban’s announcement of its suspension of polio vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is one of two countries in which the spread of the infectious paralyzing disease has never been stopped. The other is Pakistan.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported 18 polio cases in Afghanistan this year, all but two in the south of the country. That’s up from six cases in 2023.
Earlier this year, the Taliban-controlled government made many controversial health decisions which made United Nations’ authorities grow concerned. In June, a Taliban Health Ministry stated that Afghanistan has recorded no polio cases so far in 2024, contradicting reports of nine cases recorded by the World Health Organization.
However, the WHO-led Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has recorded nine paralytic polio cases in Afghanistan so far in 2024, including three reported in that specific week from the southern province of Kandahar.
The news of the suspension was relayed to U.N. agencies before the September immunization campaign. The Taliban gave no reason for the suspension, according to AP. Anti-polio campaigns in neighboring Pakistan are regularly spoiled by violence. Militants target vaccination teams and police assigned to protect them, falsely claiming that the campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.
Despite administering more than 300 million doses of the oral vaccine annually and spending billions of dollars, the disease is still rife across Pakistan.
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