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Ghani shares his concerns on polio problem with Bill Gates
President Ashraf Ghani and Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, held a video conference call on Monday night to discuss the polio situation in Afghanistan.
During the meeting the Gates and Ghani expressed their concerns over the surge in polio cases in Afghanistan due to restrictions imposed by the Taliban in areas under their control, the Presidential Palace said in a statement.
“The two sides also held a comprehensive discussion on reforming the polio vaccine implementation process and increasing facilities in this regard,” the statement read.
Bill and his wife Melinda run the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a funding organization, and polio eradication is one of their top priorities.
The foundation contributes to technical and financial resources to accelerate targeted vaccination campaigns, community mobilization, and routine immunizations and assists in dealing with the disease in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
The virtual meeting on Monday night comes after the Afghan Ministry of Public Health claimed this week that more than 3.5 million children have been deprived of anti-polio vaccinations due to restrictions imposed by the Taliban in several provinces.
The Ministry stated that the Taliban’s restrictions on the house-to-house vaccination campaign have increased from three to ten percent of homes in the last three years.
Mirjan Rasikh, head of the Polio Eradication Program said on this year’s campaign, which started just over a week ago that: “Although the Taliban promised to cooperate in implementing the vaccine, they have prevented it more so than in the past.”
“Children in Paktia and Maidan Wardak have missed the immunity doses against the poliovirus due to the Taliban’s restrictions,” Rasikh said.
The Taliban not only failed to cooperate with the process but also prevented thousands of children from getting the vaccine in Maidan Wardak, Ghazni, Helmand, Kandahar, Kunduz, Takhar, Paktika, and Paktia provinces, the Public Health Ministry said.
The Japanese ambassador in Kabul, Takayoshi Kuromiya, met Saturday with Sader Azam Osmani, the Deputy of the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock, the meeting discussed Japan’s cooperation in these areas.
The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations (MoRR) held Saturday an emergency meeting in Kabul attended by the humanitarian aid coordinator of the International Organization for Migration to instantly address the needs of recent flood victims in Baghlan province.
The ministry quoted Abdul Rahman Rahmani, head of the assistance coordination of the ministry, as saying that the goal of the meeting was to provide emergency assistance to flood victims and how to consider first aid.
According to reports, intense floods in Baghlan’s many districts have left hundreds of dead and injured.
The ministry stated that hundreds of houses have been destroyed and people are living in open space in the mountains.
Meanwhile, the ministry added that the figures are not yet final and the process of rescue operations is still ongoing with the cooperation of health teams.
At the meeting, Mohammad Omar Hashemi, the humanitarian aid coordinator of the International Organization for Migration, also assured that the organization is ready to provide urgent aid to the victims.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday it can only support one in every three malnourished children across Afghanistan, highlighting the shortage of funding.
WFP said on X that there are three million malnourished children in Afghanistan.
“But we can only support 1 in every 3 malnourished children across Afghanistan,” WFP said. “Children bear the brunt of the assistance cuts. Sustained funding is vital.”
The World Food Program in Afghanistan had previously warned that the number of malnourished children visiting hospitals has increased this year following the reduction of foreign aid.
More than 23 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan this year, according to the United Nations. Over half of them are children.
In February, WFP announced a dire need for $760 million in food assistance for Afghanistan over the next six months.
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