A health worker gives polio vaccination dose to a child during a vaccination campaign in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, on Jan. 27, 2020. The Afghan Public Health Ministry launched a nationwide campaign on Monday to give polio vaccination dose to 9.1 million children under the age of five, the ministry said in a statement. (Photo by Sayed Mominzadah/Xinhua)
KABUL, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan Public Health Ministry launched a nationwide campaign on Monday to give polio vaccination dose to 9.1 million children under the age of five, the ministry said in a statement.
The five-day campaign started on Monday in 30 of the country's 34 provinces. Due to harsh weather, the anti-polio drive will not be conducted in central Bamyan and Daykundi provinces and western Ghor and Badghis provinces.
The drive was launched as 29 polio cases were detected in Afghanistan in 2019.
The ongoing insurgency and conflicts have been hindering the efforts to stamp out the infectious disease in the mountainous country as 1.2 million children from areas inaccessible to vaccination teams will miss the ongoing vaccine drive.
Afghanistan and the neighboring Pakistan are the only two countries in the world that polio cases are reported every year, according to the statement.
