Two new polio cases registered in Kunar, Kandahar

Monitoring Desk

KABUL: Two new polio cases have been registered in Kunar and Kandahar provinces last week, bringing the total number of confirmed polio cases in Afghanistan to 5 during 2018, public health ministry said.

The new polio cases were registered in Ghaziabad of Kunar and and Shah Walikot district of Kandahar, the public health ministry said in a statement. It said booth children – who are now paralyzed for life – had never been vaccinated against polio.

“Both cases have been reported from refusal families, who never allowed their children to be vaccinated by the teams coming to their door steps. This is an urgent reminder to all parents that polio is a real and serious health risk,” the public health ministry said.

Polio is incurable and the only way to protect your child from potential life-long paralysis is to immunize them with polio drops during each campaign, until they reach the age of 5.

It said a team at the national level has been assigned to conduct a detailed investigation and risk assessment of the cases and the surrounding area to determine the risk of further spread of the polio virus to other children.

The two cases were confirmed whilst a nationwide polio vaccination campaign is underway across the country. This week, around 9.9 million children under the age of five will be vaccinated against polio by 70,000 dedicated frontline health workers.

The Polio Eradication Initiative is a global public health intervention that aims to eradicate polio from the world and protect all future generations of children from polio paralysis.

Currently, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria are the only three remaining polio-endemic countries in the world.