Afghanistan records significant drop in polio cases: WHO

The World Health Organization announced that last year (2022), two children were left disabled due to polio in Afghanistan.

This figure is the lowest number of polio cases recorded in Afghanistan.

The World Health Organization in a tweet on Thursday said that “with vaccination, polio cases will reach zero and Afghanistan will be free of this disease.”

Earlier, the World Health Organization announced that in less than a year, 9 million children under the age of five in Afghanistan received polio vaccines.

According to WHO, over the past year, 86.7 million doses of polio vaccine have been given to Afghan children.

The World Health Organization has emphasized that in order to eradicate polio in the world, it is necessary to first eradicate this disease in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Pakistan media outlets reported that a wild poliovirus of Afghan origin has been detected in sewage samples from Peshawar and Hangu districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.

The virus was found in environmental samples collected from Naray Khuwar site in Peshawar and from Civil Hospital-Jani Chowk site in Hangu on April 10.

So far this year, Pakistan has reported one human case and five environmental samples positive for wild poliovirus.

According to the Pakistan Polio Laboratory at the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, the two detected viruses were genetically linked to the poliovirus that was found in the environment in Nangarhar, Afghanistan in January 2023, Pakistan local news outlets reported.

Pakistan and Afghanistan will also be conducting a synchronized vaccination campaign during May to increase children’s immunity.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only countries that have not succeeded in eradicating polio in their countries.