The Afghan Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has extended its efforts to combat the polio virus in at least eight districts of Badakhshan province after the disease disabled a two year old infant, officials said on Tuesday. Afghanistan has progressed extensively in eradicating the virus but the country has yet to fully overcome the issue.
This year Afghanistan recorded two cases of polio in Laghman and Badakhshan provinces. All families are cautioned to vaccinate children younger than five.
"The first polio spring campaign would be launched within one month. The campaign would be implemented in four rounds nationwide to rein the disease," MoPH spokesman, Kanishka Turkistani, said.
According to Mr. Turkistani, a four-day, anti-polio mass campaign is expected to be launched within a month.
"The polio eradication campaign has been active for three days in eight districts of northern Badakhshan, after the first polio case was recorded in the province," Turkistani added.
Earlier this month, Kabul recorded its first polio case since 2001, alarming the city and compelling the Afghan Ministry of Health (MoH) to launch a three-day polio vaccination campaign. A three-year-old girl, Sakina, was diagnosed after she complained that she could not stand on her feet. Daughter of a taxi driver from a nomad tribe, Sakina was taken to Pakistan for treatment, the Ministry of Health said on Tuesday.
Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria are the only three countries in the world where polio has yet to be fully eradicated.
There were 80 polio cases in Afghanistan in 2011, 37 in 2012 and just 14 in 2013. According to Turkistani, Sakina is the second case diagnosed in Afghanistan this year.
Most cases of polio in Afghanistan are said to occur on the Afghan-Pakistani border in the country's eastern provinces.