Sources have confirmed to KabulNow that the Taliban has not allowed female health workers in Afghanistan’s southern of Kandahar to take part in delivering polio vaccines.
A source working for the World Health Organization (WHO) in Kandahar told KabulNow that in line with the Afghan rulers imposed ban on women working as health worker, women have not been allowed to join in the immunisation campaign, which kicked off today.
The Taliban had agreed to exempt women working in the health sector from the ban.
“The women will not be allowed to do their duties in polio vaccination in Kandahar unless the Taliban and representatives of the United Nations reach an agreement. This issue would be remained unsolved for a long time but we cannot work without the female workers,” an employee of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said, adding that it was now decided that only male workers should participate and implement the polio vaccination campaign in Kandahar.
According to health officials, Kandahar is one of the provinces where 45 percent of children below the age of five miss every polio vaccination campaign.
Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban and home to its supreme leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada.
Afghanistan remains one of the few countries in the world where polio has not be eliminated.
