First polio case surfaces in Nangarhar this year: MoPH

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Ministry of Public Health on Saturday said a sub-national immunization campaign against polio in selected districts will be launched on Monday.

In a statement, the ministry said the partial-campaign will start on Monday (May 15) and will continue for three days covering 217 districts in 23 provinces of the country.

This campaign is being launched with the help of other international aid organizations and 6.4 million children below the age of five years will be vaccinated against polio virus.

MoPH said one positive polio case was registered in Bati Kot district of eastern Nangarhar province this year while four positive cases surfaced in 2021.

The statement quoted Dr. Nik Wali Shah Momin, head of National Polio Emergency center, as saying: “Unfortunately the first positive case of polio disease was registered in Bati Koot district of Nangarhar province, the inflicted child is a four years old boy”.

Momin said: “We launched several campaigns for the eradication of polio virus in different parts of the country especially in Nangarhar province and we consider similar campaigns effective to wipe out this disease, we made progress in this struggle, we can overcome polio by continuing such campaigns in the country”.

Polio is a viral disease that has no cure, but it can be prevented by the jabs of vaccination. This disease mostly appears in children and causes permanent paralysis or death in some cases, the only way to prevent this disease is vaccination.

The MoPH requested religious scholars, community elders, local influential figures and parents to cooperate with vaccination teams for successful implementation of anti-polio campaign in their areas.

aw/ma