The Taliban has banned the polio vaccination campaign in Afghanistan. The United Nations said that the polio vaccination campaign in Afghanistan was to start in September, but the Taliban had decided to suspend the campaign and official information in this regard had been sent to the United Nations. The Taliban did not give any reason for doing so.
In neighboring Pakistan, there are also frequent reports of attacks on health workers carrying out polio vaccinations. Terrorists have attacked vaccination teams and police personnel deployed to protect them. Fundamentalists have falsely promoted the polio vaccination campaign as a plot to sterilize children promoted by Western countries. It is widely believed that it makes children impotent or causes physical disorders.
Polio cases are only found in Afghanistan and Pakistan
Afghanistan is one of two countries in the world where the spread of polio, a disease that paralyzes children, has not yet been completely stopped. The second country is Pakistan. Nigeria has announced that it will be polio-free by 2020. In India, vaccination campaigns have also been going on for decades to eradicate the disease. India’s polio vaccination campaign began in 1972, and nearly four decades later, on March 27, 2014, the country was declared polio-free. The World Health Organization has confirmed 18 cases of polio in Afghanistan this year. In 2023, this number will be only 6.
The WHO also said that only about 20% of women participate in polio vaccination campaigns, so most children cannot be guaranteed to receive vaccinations. Especially in areas like Kandahar. The World Health Organization said that due to the ban on polio vaccination in Afghanistan, the vaccine is likely to have an adverse impact in Pakistan as well. Because many Afghans continue to come to Pakistan. Suspending polio vaccination activities in Afghanistan could cause a major setback to global efforts to eradicate the disease.
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