KABUL (SW): The World Health Organizations (WHO) revealed on Monday that up to 20 percent of children under the age of 5 lose lives in Afghanistan simply because they do not get the basic vaccination.
The WHO in Afghanistan noted this at the launch of ‘World Immunization Week an event attended by Minister of Public Health (MoPH) Dr. Ferozuddin Feroz and key national and international partners supporting immunization activities in the country.
Feroz said that it is the MoPH duty to protect the children of Afghanistan from vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization is the right of every single child.
Speaking on the occasion Dr Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Country Representative said that immunization not only protects children against traditional vaccine-preventable diseases like measles but it also gives protection against diseases such as pneumonia which is a big killer of children under 5 years of age.
It was highlighted that mortality due to vaccine-preventable diseases has decreased in the past decade as a result of the Government’s intensive immunization efforts supported by local and international partners.
Afghanistan’s overall immunization coverage however, was pronounced to be low with disparities throughout the regions. Around one-fifth of Afghan women and children have never been immunized against diseases – according latest vaccination coverage survey conducted in 2013, coverage for the measles vaccine is 59% and only 51% of children receive all antigens before the age of 1.
Afghanistan remains one of the two polio-endemic countries globally – in 2015, 20 polio cases were reported, compared to 28 in 2014. Four polio cases have been reported so far in 2016.
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