Local health authorities in the western Herat province have launched a 10-day vaccination campaign for children against measles disease and poliovirus.
The campaign is aimed at vaccinating 590,000 children against poliovirus and 510,000 against measles disease, according to Mohammad Asif Kabir, deputy director of public health in Herat.
Meanwhile, local Taliban officials have called on the families in Herat to cooperate with the vaccination campaign and vaccinators in the province.
Using this opportunity, families may vaccinate their children against the deadly poliovirus and measles in order to have a society free of these diseases, said Mawlawi Noor Ahmad Islamjar, Taliban’s governor in Herat.
Herat has not reported any positive polio cases this year.
Local health authorities, however, confirmed that 21 children have lost their lives to measles over the past seven months.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only countries where the polio virus has not been eradicated so far. Insecurity is the main challenge for this program in both countries. The Taliban did create hurdles against polio vaccination in their controlled territories under the reign of the previous government as well.
This year Afghanistan has recorded a total of two cases of poliovirus so far.
