Anti-polio campaign begins in east

JALALABAD (PAN, where two positive cases surfaced last year, officials said.

In Jalalabad, the provincial capital, Deputy Governor Mohammad Hanif Gardiwal officially launched the drive by administering polio drops to a child.

Public Health Director Baz Mohammad Sherzad told Pajhwok Afghan News the campaign involved 6,000 volunteers from eastern provinces. Children below the age of five years would be administered polio drops, he said.

One positive case each was detected last year in Nangarhar and Kunar, where children had brought the virus from Pakistan, Sherzad said. He appealed to the people to cooperate with volunteers in reaching out to every child in the region.

He said talks were underway with elders in Marawara and Pech Dara districts of Kunar and in the Kamdesh district of Nuristan to seek their help in vaccinating children there.

Nangarhar Woman’s Affairs Director Anis Imrani said all woman councils in remote parts had been asked to cooperate with volunteers during the campaign.

ma/mud

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