Six million children to receive polio vaccines in Afghanistan

PEOPLES GAZETTE 

Afghanistan has launched its first polio vaccination campaign of 2025, aimed at protecting around 6 million children under five, the health ministry announced on Monday.

The three-day campaign will target 16 of the country’s 34 provinces, ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said.

The official urged community leaders and religious scholars to support the effort to protect children from polio, a debilitating disease that can lead to paralysis and, in some cases, death.

The World Health Organisation has warned that the repatriation of Afghan migrants from neighbouring Pakistan has increased the risk of polio spreading.