Health
A fresh case of infectious poliomyelitis was detected in Afghanistan, bringing to nine the number of confirmed cases of polio the virus since January, the Afghan Public Health Ministry said on Monday.
“A new poliovirus case was registered in Pir Mohammad village, Nad Ali District of Southern Helmand Province recently,’’ the ministry said in a statement.
According to the statement, the paralysed four-year-old boy had never been vaccinated as the area, his family lives in, is behind the reach of health workers and polio vaccinators.
Earlier on Monday, the ministry launched a five-day polio vaccination campaign in 27 of the country’s 34 provinces, which will wrap up on Friday.
Ongoing insurgency and conflicts have been hindering the efforts to stamp out the infectious disease in the mountainous country as over 1.3 million children, under the age of five, would be deprived of the fresh vaccination.
“Poliovirus could be rapidly transferred and the only preventable way is vaccination,’’ the statement added.
The latest anti-polio campaign launched by 53,000 dedicated polio workers would deliver oral polio vaccines to over 6.5 million children.
– Jul. 2, 2018 @ 13:35 GMT |
Tags: Fresh case of polio virus detected in Afghanistan – government
