Afghanistan records 10th polio case in 2019 as security worsens-officials

By Abdul Qadir Sediqi
KABUL, June 26 (Reuters) - Afghanistan, one of the last
countries in the world where polio is still endemic, has
registered its 10th case this year, with most coming in southern
regions where Taliban militants have wide control, a senior
health official said on Wednesday.
A 21-month-old girl in the south central province of Uruzgan
had been left partly paralyzed by the disease after her parents
refused permission for her to receive vaccination.
She was the 10th case registered so far this year, compared
with 21 for the whole of 2018.
"Our health teams visited the family several times, but
unfortunately the family denied (permission) for the child to
take the vaccine," said Khan Aqa Miakhel, health director of
Uruzgan province.
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria are the last three
countries in the world where polio is endemic with efforts to
eradicate the disease in Afghanistan complicated by the violence
across much of the country and by the refusal of some
communities to accept vaccination programmes.
Hedayatullah Stanekzai, the health ministry's point person
on polio, said that out of some 9 million children eligible for
vaccination, around 860,000 had not been administered polio
drops in 2018, mainly due to security threats.
"We have full preparation and facilities to run a vaccine
campaign in the whole country but due to security threats, we
can't send our campaigners to the Taliban-controlled and other
insurgent areas," he said.
A Taliban ban on the Red Cross (ICRC) and World Health
Organization operating in areas under their control had made the
work of prevention more difficult and there was a risk that the
disease could break out in other areas, he said.
Many health workers administering the vaccines were women,
able to gain greater access to families in very conservative
areas of the country and their safety was a key concern.
"We are deeply concerned about the Taliban's ban on WHO and
ICRC's activities," he said.
"If the ban is not lifted soon the polio virus will spread
out to the areas which were cleaned in past 18 years," he said.
Stanekzai said officials were talking to communities in
Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan and Zabul provinces.
"We are in contact with tribal elders and people to find a
solution for the problem, but we hope the anti-polio campaigns
are not taken hostage by the warring sides for political
purposes."

(Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Nick Macfie)