KABUL - Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), with the support of World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), is today intensifying efforts to wipe out polio from the country by the end of 2012.

From 17 through 19 September, more than 55,000 medical staff and volunteers across the country are going door-to-door to give two drops of an oral polio vaccine to 7.8 million children as part of an annual National Immunization Days Campaign. It is imperative that families ensure their children receive the vaccine in order to be protected against the crippling, and potentially deadly, disease.

Afghanistan is on the brink of polio eradication. One of the last two types of poliovirus has not been seen in the country for more than 14 months and the total number of cases declined by 34 per cent in 2010 compared to 2009, according to WHO and UNICEF. This year, 23 polio cases have been reported in districts of Kandahar, Helmand, Farah and Parwan provinces.

The Ministry of Public Health, WHO and UNICEF are working to engage all sectors of the government and society to ensure that service providers have access to all under-five children wherever they live in Afghanistan. Priority outreach for this immunization campaign is also being directed to the Southern and Eastern border regions, where the free movement of the population between Pakistan and Afghanistan continues to spread the disease between the two countries.

Lack of access to all children living in the Southern region has been a major reason why Afghanistan remains one of only four countries in the world – along with Pakistan, India and Nigeria – still affected by the disease.

“In 2009, there was no access to children for nearly a year in Marja district, Helmand province, because of ongoing military operations,” said Dr Arshad Quddus, head of WHO’s polio programme in Afghanistan.

Humanitarian access in Afghanistan overall has shrunk in the past several years, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA).

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon dedicated his Rotary Polio Eradication Champion Award in
2009 to three polio staff killed in September 2008 while monitoring the UN polio campaign in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar.

To secure greater access to some communities, the UN negotiates with local leaders, such as tribal elders and teachers, and enlists local volunteers who are trained and monitored by health supervisors. The UN also relies on a “window of opportunity” strategy where children who live in areas that are only accessible for a short period of time, are reached through specially arranged and focused campaigns.

The success of the Polio Eradication Initiative is in large part due to the neutrality of the polio vaccination programme, which dates back decades to the times when mujahidin fighters used to broker temporary ceasefires during immunization campaigns and stick polio posters on their tanks.

“The programme in neutral. Irrespective of tribal or political affiliation, all children are vaccinated,” said UNICEF’s senior polio worker, Carmen Garrigos.

By UNAMA Kabul