The World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday that Afghanistan recorded its lowest-ever number of polio paralysis cases in 2022 and reiterated its commitment to making the country polio-free.
Two children were paralyzed by polio in 2022, the lowest number ever recorded in Afghanistan,» the WHO office in Afghanistan said on its Twitter account.
It emphasized that »by vaccinating all children, we can reach zero and make Afghanistan polio-free.
Polio, a highly contagious disease that mainly affects children, is transmitted mainly by the fecal-oral route, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The virus is endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan, after Nigeria declared its eradication in 2020.
Vaccination campaigns have faced difficulties in Afghanistan and Pakistan due to conspiracy theories that immunization causes infertility or that medical workers are spies, which has led to numerous attacks against them or agents who are deployed to reinforce their security. Before seizing power in 2021, the Taliban banned such campaigns in areas under their control.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
