UNICEF Kicks Off Polio Immunization Campaign In Afghanistan, Hopes To Wipe Out Disease

April 15, 2003

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Hoping to put an end to the polio scourge in Afghanistan, the U.N. children's agency kicked off a three-day polio immunization campaign Tuesday aimed at reaching every child in the country under 5 years old.

An estimated 30,000 vaccinators and volunteers from the Ministry of Health, the U.N. World Health Organization and UNICEF are expected to administer two drops of oral polio vaccine to more than 6 million children, said UNICEF spokesman Edward Carwardine.

"Reaching so many children in three days, it's a pretty monumental achievement given the lack of infrastructure here," Carwardine said. "When this is over, we'll be close to making Afghanistan polio-free."

Afghanistan is struggling to emerge from more than two decades of war that left much of the country in ruins - including its health care system. Authorities, complaining of a lack of clinics, hospitals and trained doctors, have called on the international community to step up donor aid.

Carwardine said 10 polio cases were reported in Afghanistan in 2002. For a country to be declared polio-free, there must be no reported cases for three consecutive years.

He said the campaign would likely be repeated four more times by the end of the year to ensure all children are immunized.

Polio strikes the central nervous system, causing paralysis and sometimes death. It is transmitted through food or water contaminated by the feces of an infected person.

Once a major problem, the disease has disappeared from much of the planet and the United Nations hopes to eradicate it completely by 2005.

Afghanistan is one of the last 10 countries in the world where polio remains endemic, according to UNICEF.