KABUL, Oct 18 (NNN-ANA) – A country-wide polio vaccination drive will start on Nov 8, in war-affected Afghanistan, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced today.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF welcome the decision by the Taliban, who support the resumption of house-to-house polio vaccination across Afghanistan, the UNICEF said, in a release on its website.
The campaign will be the first in over three years, to reach all children in Afghanistan, including more than 3.3 million children in parts of the country, who have “previously remained inaccessible to vaccination campaigns,” the release said.
“A second nationwide polio vaccination campaign has also been agreed and will be synchronised with Pakistan’s own polio campaign, planned in Dec,” according to the release.
The vaccination will be the first campaign since Taliban’s takeover in Aug.
Earlier this month, UNICEF urged the Taliban’s caretaker government to resume children’s vaccination, amid fear of spreading polio and measles in Afghanistan.– NNN-ANA
