No anti-polio drive in Helmand in 3 months

LASHKARGAH (Pajhwok): No anti-polio vaccination campaign could be launched in parts of southern Helmand province over the past three months due to lack of cooperation from residents, health officials said on Thursday.

An official at the Public Health Department, Dr Obaidullah Daudzai, told Pajhwok Afghan News residents were not extending support to polio workers in areas where the Taliban held sway.

However, he did not say if the Taliban were against the vaccination. Duadzai said the department, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the Red Crescent Society were making joint efforts to encouraging vaccination campaigns.

However, a resident of the Greshk district, Atiqullah, said that previous vaccination campaigns had encountered no problems in their area.

A dweller of Sistani area of Marja district, Gul Agha, said they were unaware if polio vaccination had been stopped due to lack of cooperation from locals.

He said the Taliban were existed in their area, but they had never discouraged administering polio drops to children. He said locals were interested in giving polio vaccines to their children to protect them being paralysed by polio disease.

mds/ma

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