RASC News Agency: The World Health Organization (WHO), in its latest weekly report, announced that 23 polio cases have been recorded in Afghanistan since the start of 2023. The report highlights that, as of this year, 71 global cases of polio have been documented, with 23 in Afghanistan and 48 in Pakistan. Previously, the WHO noted that three new polio cases had been detected in October in the Afghanistan provinces of Kandahar and Helmand.
Two of these cases were confirmed in Kandahar’s Maiwand and Ghorak districts, and one additional case was reported in the Nahri Saraj district of Helmand.
In its mid-November update, WHO further disclosed an environmental polio case identified in Helmand, bringing the total environmental detections of the virus in Afghanistan to 85 for the year. This latest case was recorded in Lashkar Gah, Helmand’s capital city. Afghanistan and Pakistan remain the only two countries worldwide where polio continues to be detected.
According to sources, the Taliban have previously suspended door-to-door polio vaccination campaigns in Helmand and Kandahar. Initially labeling the campaign as inappropriate, the Taliban later acknowledged the vaccine’s importance but maintained restrictions on the campaign’s activities.
