Taliban health authorities launched a new polio vaccination campaign Monday in 31 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, aiming to reach at least 9.4 million children under the age of five over the next few days.
The campaign has had to be postponed in three other provinces due to the extreme cold, according to the spokesman of the Ministry of Health, Sharafat Zaman, who stressed that so far this year there have been «no positive cases» of polio.
This is the second campaign since the Taliban took power in August 2021. Before returning to power, they had banned vaccination in the areas under their control, in the face of theories that such initiatives are operated by the espionage services of third countries.
However, the Taliban and the United Nations have agreed to launch such campaigns in a country which, along with Pakistan, is the only one in the world where polio is still endemic.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
