The Taliban announced recently That they're suspending the polio vaccination campaign in Afghanistan. The announcement was made shortly before the beginning of the campaign.
According to the Taliban, the suspension is temporary, and is Because of Safety concerns and the proven fact that women are involved in vaccine administration.
Poliovirus is a highly contagious virus that primarily affects children under the age of 5, but anyone who has not been vaccinated can grow to be infected. The virus is spread primarily through contaminated faecal traces on people's hands, into their mouths or, less commonly, through contaminated food or water.
It initially affects the intestines causing symptoms resembling fever, fatigue, headache and vomiting within the early stages of the disease. But, because the infection progresses, the virus can often invade the nervous system. Leads to paralysis. In the worst cases, affected children will die because the paralysis spreads to the muscles that control respiratory.
Polio was a serious child health problem within the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. However, the event of the polio vaccine has given us the flexibility to forestall paralysis brought on by polio. There are two major forms of polio vaccine: live attenuated oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV), which is constituted of weakened poliovirus, and inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV).
After the introduction of Global Polio Eradication Initiative In 1988, OPV and IPV nearly eliminated the disease. Nevertheless, polio stays a worldwide threat, as seen recently with the emergence of polio within the Gaza Strip.
Afghanistan is one in every of only two countries, together with neighboring Pakistan, where polio continues to spread. So the news that the Taliban has suspended polio vaccination is more likely to have major implications for controlling the disease in Afghanistan and the encompassing region.
Earlier in 2024, Afghanistan used a door-to-door vaccination strategy, really helpful by the WHO, for the primary time in five years. This strategy ensures that the majority children have access to vaccines. However, in southern Kandahar province, the Taliban used a mosque-to-mosque vaccination campaign, which has proven less effective. Kandahar is subsequently believed to have a lot of children who are actually infected.
Muhammad Sadiq/EPA
Locally, this setback in vaccination poses a threat not only to children in Afghanistan, but additionally to children bordering Pakistan. This is because of the high level of cross-border movement between the 2 countries.
“Afghanistan is the only neighbor where Afghans come to Pakistan in large numbers and then go back,” said Anwar Haq, coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Center for Polio Eradication. told the Associated Press.
Very wide spread
Afghanistan has already seen a rise in paralytic polio cases in 2024. increasing Six in 2023 to 14 confirmed cases in 2024. Paralysis occurs in about one in 200 infections, so this increase in paralytic polio indicates a high prevalence of infection within the region. This includes Pakistan where 13 cases have been reported thus far this 12 months.
With low immunization coverage and an increasing number of youngsters prone to polio infection, we're more likely to see a rise within the variety of paralytic polio cases within the near future. With a possible increase within the spread of the virus, in addition to the number of individuals moving out and in of the region, polio could spread beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan and into areas resembling India and Iran.
Unfortunately, individuals who haven't been vaccinated may also grow to be infected with vaccine-derived poliovirus. This is where the OPV vaccine, which accommodates a weakened version of the virus, has been capable of spread to areas with low vaccination coverage, allowing the virus to revert to virulence.
It has seen latest vaccine-induced outbreaks in lots of countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, which now account for the most important variety of paralytic polio cases worldwide.