KANDAHAR - A three-day anti polio campaign concluded today in Kandahar and Helmand provinces of Afghanistan’s southern region.

The Public Health Department of Kandahar also launched the campaign in Ghorak district, a remote area where the Government regained control recently.

With support from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the campaign targeted around 600,000 children under five in the southern region. The Head of Public Health Department of Kandahar, Abdul Qayoum Pokhla said that no polio case has been reported this year in the southern region and the campaign went successfully, despite some challenges.

“The polio campaign started in Ghorak district, which is located in the remote part of Kandahar. However, due to some security and technical challenges, the campaign was not fully implemented in the district. We will continue the campaign in the district in the next round,” said Dr. Esmathullah, the focal point for polio campaign at the Department of Public Health of Kandahar.

Although Afghanistan remains a polio endemic country, alongside neighbouring Pakistan and Nigeria, most of Afghanistan is polio-free, according to Polio Global Eradication Initiative. Persistent poliovirus transmission is largely restricted to 13 districts of Helmand, Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces in the southern region.

Dr. Khushhal Khan Zaman, a WHO Medical Officer for polio in the southern region, said that polio would remain a challenge in the southern region until it was totally eradicated.

“Last year, almost 70 per cent of the total 37 polio cases in Afghanistan were registered in the southern region,” Dr. Zaman told UNAMA.

During the launch of the campaign in Ghorak district, Kandahar Governor, Dr. Toryali Wesa, called upon the insurgents to support the campaign as there were no political motives behind it.

By UNAMA Kandahar