Kabul [Afghanistan], July 19 (ANI): Afghanistan is about to launch a brand new nationwide polio vaccination marketing campaign on July 20, concentrating on kids underneath the age of 5 to guard them from the debilitating virus, in keeping with the Afghanistan Polio-Free Organization, Khaama Press reported.
The marketing campaign can be carried out throughout a number of provinces and districts and consists of the administration of Vitamin A dietary supplements alongside the oral polio vaccine to assist strengthen kids’s immune programs. Khaama Press stated this mixed effort goals to spice up resistance in opposition to different ailments and enhance general youngster well being.
‘The marketing campaign goals to guard kids underneath the age of 5 from the debilitating results of polio,’ the group said, urging households to make sure that no youngster is neglected of the initiative.
According to Khaama Press, the group emphasised the function of oldsters and guardians, calling on them to collaborate with well being groups and guarantee full group participation. It added that folks can contact the free helpline at 141 for extra particulars concerning the marketing campaign.
Polio, a extremely infectious virus primarily affecting kids, spreads by way of contaminated water and might trigger fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiff neck, and limb ache.
In about one in 200 circumstances, the illness leads to irreversible paralysis. Afghanistan and Pakistan are presently the one two international locations on the planet the place polio stays endemic, Khaama Press famous.
Ongoing eradication efforts are seen as essential to defending Afghan kids from lifelong incapacity. ‘Polio vaccination is among the simplest methods to make sure a more healthy, brighter future for Afghan kids,’ the group reiterated, in keeping with Khaama Press.
‘These vaccination campaigns signify a big step towards a polio-free future for the nation,’ it added, stressing that continued public cooperation is important to the success of the initiative.
In assist of those efforts, Japan has offered USD 5 million by way of UNICEF to bolster polio eradication efforts and strengthen immunisation applications throughout all 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in keeping with Khaama Press.
The Government of Japan, in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), has partnered with UNICEF in a 12-month initiative geared toward reaching over 13 million kids with lifesaving polio vaccines and routine immunisations, Khaama Press reported.
UNICEF said on Thursday, July 10, 2025, that the brand new grant reaffirms Japan’s longstanding dedication to Afghanistan’s well being sector. It will assist maintain progress towards the worldwide objective of eradicating polio, particularly in underserved, conflict-affected, and hard-to-reach areas, Khaama Press famous.
Afghanistan is one in all solely two international locations on the planet the place wild poliovirus transmission has not but been halted. While under-five and maternal mortality charges have declined lately, entry to primary well being providers stays restricted, leaving tens of millions of youngsters weak to lethal and preventable ailments, Khaama Press highlighted.
A resurgence of polio in 2023 underscored the presence of main immunity gaps, notably amongst kids in beforehand unreachable places and cellular or cross-border populations. Despite enhancements in chilly chain infrastructure and expanded vaccine protection, pressing efforts are wanted to bridge these gaps. (ANI)