WHO Country Office in Afghanistan

WHO Country Office in Afghanistan

Programme areas - Polio Eradication Initiative

Afghanistan Polio Eradication has made significant improvement over the years. In October 2008 the country reports 18 cases, of which 16 are reported from Southern part while 2 cases are from the Eastern region. The polio virus is localized in the Southern part which is critical to protect other children elsewhere in the country and the neighbouring polio-free countries.

There were only 4 polio cases in the country in 2004 and global experts were quite confident of finishing polio in Afghanistan. But the situation started deteriorating in the second half of 2005 and the country suffered from a severe outbreak of polio in 2006 with 31 polio cases. In 2007 there were 17 cases.

Polio virus circulation is localized in the southern part of the country where insecurity and active fighting lead to the environment of fear and suspicion in the conflict zone and impede the safe access to the children by the vaccination teams going house to house. Program staff have suffered from kidnapping and being beaten up in the past and these days are facing harassment by the local police in the field for working in security-compromised areas. In October 2008, 2 local polio officers were killed in a suicide attack in Kandahar while working on an assessment mission.

The existing situation is allowing the virus to circulate because there remain a sufficient number of unvaccinated children. The program has introduced a number of technical interventions in the South to access the children. Access Negotiators have been engaged and special communication interventions are being applied. The Health Minister held a meeting with the provincial teams from the high risk provinces in February, and the next is scheduled in May 2008. The continuing polio virus circulation in the South is a threat and can spread to other parts of the country and the neighboring polio-free countries.

The Polio Eradication Initiative is a global public health priority. More than 6 billion USD has been spent globally and around 17 million USD in Afghanistan annually. Among the remaining polio-endemic countries in the world – Nigeria, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan – Afghanistan is positive that the country will eradicate it first. With strong commitment from the government, UN agencies and health partners.

P for polio or progress and peace

“We can do it and it must be done” stressed Mr Peter Graaff, Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) at the launch of the first polio immunization campaign 2010.

During three days, 19,000 health workers travel from house to house in fourteen provinces to reach 2.8 million children under five years old in southern, south-eastern, western and eastern Afghanistan. The immunization drive is part of an ongoing effort to eradicate polio in Afghanistan, which is together with Pakistan, India and Nigeria the only country still affected by the disease.

Afghanistan polio annual report 2008