World Polio Day: vaccinations save lives in Afghanistan

October 24 is World Polio Day. Polio is a serious and contagious disease of the central nervous system that primarily affects motor neurons in the spinal cord. Those most at risk are children under the age of 5. Despite the existence of a vaccine since the late 1980s to combat and halt the spread of the virus in almost all areas of the world, only two countries remain polio-endemic: Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to INTERSOS.

In Afghanistan, a territory where the population has been experiencing one of the world’s most serious humanitarian crises for years, the ineffective and fragile health care system combined with the collapse of the economic system and the consequences of the Taliban’s seizure of power on August 15, 2021, have, in fact, hindered the possibility of vaccinating boys and girls under the age of 5. 

According to the latest WHO – World Health Organization – estimates, there are still millions of unvaccinated children, many of whom belong to 74 % of the country’s population living in rural areas where there are no basic health facilities and vaccination services.

 INTERSOS is one of the NGOs present in the territory since 2001, which has made the fight against polio one of its main campaigns to vaccinate and raise awareness among the local population said: 

“For about a year now the situation has stabilized and the campaign against polio has resumed and is currently active.”

In a country where more than 24 million people need humanitarian aid, about 12 million are children, and 19 million are in a food crisis, making the poliovirus vaccine accessible to everyone is a top priority.