Health
Influx of Afghan returnees from Pakistan increases risk of spread of polio: WHO
The influx of Afghan returnees from Pakistan significantly increases the risk of cross-border poliovirus spread as well as spread within the two countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Friday.
In a statement issued following the meeting of the IHR Emergency Committee for Polio, WHO said that during the past four months, there have been no new WPV1 cases reported from Afghanistan, where the total number of cases remains six, all from Nangarhar province.
“However, there have been 46 WPV1 positive environmental samples to date in 2023, mostly from the endemic East Region (Nangarhar and Kunar provinces),” but recently environmental samples were also found in Kabul, Kandahar, Zabul and Balkh provinces, the statement said.
“This indicates spread of WPV1 from the endemic zones of Afghanistan (East Region) and Pakistan (South KP) and is a reversal of recent progress,” the statement added.
Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have returned from Pakistan in recent months after Islamabad announced a crackdown on illegal migrants.