Kandahar, Helmand children face polio threat
16 February, 2013
KABUL: Afghan Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has warned that children in southern Kandahar and Helmand provinces are facing a serious polio threat after insecurity meant almost half of them could not receive a vaccination. Soraya Dalil, MoPH Minister said that the insecurity in these provinces had prevented about 40 percent of the children from being vaccinated. She said more than twenty cases of polio have been recorded in the two provinces. "Sixty-five percent of the polio in Afghanistan is in the south, especially in Kandahar and Helmand. It means children still face this threat of polio," Dalil said, adding that specifically there were seven insecure districts in Kandahar and four insecure districts in Helmand making vaccination difficult. The governor of Kandahar's Meianshin district said the polio vaccination staff could not go to dangerous areas. "In the most insecure parts we don't have any access and the vaccination staff cannot go there. End.
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