Polio-Free Afghanistan to roll out new campaign 

The Polio-Free Afghanistan organization said Sunday it plans to roll out a new campaign from Monday across different regions of the country. 

The organization did not however specify the regions nor how many children they will reach.

This comes after the World Health Organization reported on Thursday that three new wild polio cases were reported in the week from Pakistan.

No new cases were reported last week in Afghanistan. 

However, WHO has stated that the total number of wild polio cases in Afghanistan last year are at 25 and Pakistan reported 73. 

This was against the total case count of 12 in 2023 – six in Afghanistan and six in Pakistan. 

Last month, the Ministry of Public Health announced that they had started a polio vaccination campaign in a number of provinces of the country in coordination with international organizations.

According to a press release from the ministry, at least 5.3 million children under the age of five received the polio vaccine in 11 provinces of the country.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two countries in the world where polio has not yet been eradicated and is still claiming the lives of children.