JALALABAD, Afghanistan, July 8 (Xinhua) — Afghan health authorities launched an anti-polio campaign in east Afghanistan’s Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunar and Nuristan provinces on Saturday, provincial health official Hakam Khan Gulabzai said.
More than 835,000 children under five would receive the immunization vaccine during the four-day campaign, the official added.
The campaign to immunize children against the crippling disease was launched amid an increase in polio cases in Afghanistan’s eastern regions as five polio cases have been registered in Nangarhar province so far this year.
Afghan Public Health Ministry spokesperson Sharafat Zaman Amar said the Afghan caretaker government is fully committed to eradicating polio in the war-torn country.
Source: English News