Afghanistan Times
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KABUL: In September of this year, the Ministry of Public Health launched vaccination camping at a ceremony held at the Shpageez cricket league tournament in Kabul, in which around 9.9 million children under the age of 5 went under vaccination campaign. It was part of the fourth round of polio National Immunization Days of this year. Moreover around 5.9 million children under aged 2-5 have give Albendazole de-worming tablets. Our cricket heroes inaugurated the National Immunization Day in that time by administering oral polio vaccine to children and reaffirming the support to fight against polio. Indeed we are among three countries that suffer from polio. It is important to get rid of this paralyze disease once for all and to reach that sustainability, we need to have cooperation from all communities in society. Role of religious scholars and community leaders, are immense in this regard. Surely, will not turn blind eyes over the role of teachers and youths, which is very important, but at the same, the biggest obstacle against polio drive is Taliban fighters, especially in areas under their control. In the past there were several reports that Taliban insurgents have been hampering anti-polio campaign. Previously, health official in the districts and capital of southeastern Paktika province had informed that Taliban insurgents of not allowing anti-polio drive. It is worth mentioning that two drops of polio is a must for every child in order to stop them from life-being paralyzing. We highly request the Taliban not to create problem against polio vaccine for the sake of their and children health around the county. Moreover, in the past Taliban insurgents slowed down police vaccine, and the clear example is the Raghestan district and other areas of Badakhshan province. Furthermore, to help Afghan government to eliminate polio, the Italian government contributed 4.3 million euros to eradicate polio and improve the nutritional status of children under the age of five. UNICEF in a statement said, of this amount, 2.5 million euros will go to UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), which is both working in the framework of the National Emergency Action Plan for Polio (NEAP), aimed at interrupting the disease transmission in Afghanistan. According to UNICEF statement, 1.8 million euro has been granted to UNICEF to improve the coverage and quality of nutrition services for children under five, adolescent girls and mothers in the most deprived provinces. Furthermore, our government is also making all out efforts to wipe out polio by going house to house to vaccinate children of two drops of polio. There is no denying to the fact that to help the government there are thousands volunteers who are working tirelessly to eradicate polio. It is humble request to the all conflict parties that to never harm polio process. This disease is very dangerous disease and people often underestimate how important and effective the vaccine is in preventing the irreversible consequences of the disease.
