Afghanistan Times
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AT-KABUL: Local public health officials on Monday said no positive polio cases have been recorded in the eastern zone of the country during the past 14 months.
Najibullah Kamawal, public health director for Nangarhar province, said that they would launch an anti-polio campaign in the eastern in the upcoming three days.
“More than 650,000 children of one million children would be covered by the vaccinating campaign in the eastern zone,” he said.
He added the general situation was better comparing to last year as no polio cases had surfaced during the past 14 months.
“Threats posed by militants to anti-polio campaigners had decreased and the number of children previously deprived of vaccination reduced from 75,000 to 15,000.”
However, Kamawal stated there was still security threats for the anti-polio campaign in Parando, Gurguri, Kasona, Awghaz, Lagharjo, Shadal Bazar and Dakhal Nazian areas of Pachiragam, Haska Mina, Kot, Achin and Nazian districts.
Meanwhile, Maulavi Abdul Zahir Haqqani, a religious scholar in the area said anti-polio vaccination was legitimate from Islamic perspective, urging the families to vaccinate their children.
He said he had sent letters to all imams (clerics) in different districts, asking them to support vaccinators and encourage parents to vaccinate their children.
Eight polio cases were recorded in the country last year, with four surfacing in Nangarhar alone.
