The Ministry of Public Health of Afghanistan, with country partners in polio, has developed a national emergency action plan to stop poliovirus transmission, in response to the announcement of the 65th World Health Assembly in May 2012, which declared the completion of polio eradication a national public health emergency.

The emergency action plan focuses on management and accountability, improving access and quality in security-affected areas in the southern region, structural reforms in service delivery and increasing awareness and demand in the community. The plan also aims at engaging the office of H.E the President and governors to oversee the efforts.

Based on the action plan, immediate large-scale case response vaccination rounds are implemented in all the newly- infected provinces and districts bordering the outbreak zone of Pakistan with intensified monitoring. The main features of the plan were addressed at the cross-border coordination meeting between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which took place in Kabul from 24 to 25 July 2012.