GHOR (SW) – Cut in aid and health services has led to outbreak of measles in the Ghor province of Afghanistan.
Ghor health officials are concerned about the rapid spread of measles among children in the province, saying the disease has spread due to non-implementation of the vaccination program.
Mohammad Nazim Fazl, head of the Ghor Health Department, told Salam Watandar that more than 1,200 children have been referred to the province’s central hospital recently and 21 of whom have died.
Fazl stated that the reason for the spread of measles is the non-implementation of the vaccination program amid coronavirus pandemic and security concerns. “Unfortunately, last year we had an outbreak of coronavirus, so we were unable to implement the vaccination campaign against measles across Afghanistan. For this reason, measles has spread throughout Afghanistan this year, especially in Ghor province”, he said.
The Ghor health department chief further said that since the outbreak of measles, which has been going on for three months, 1,200 cases have been reported so far and 21 children have lost lives.
On the other hand, Mullah Mahmoud, the head of Ghor Central Hospital, said that the spread of measles in the province has made the hospital inaccessible to other patients, and the health officials were trying to use other facilities at their disposal to treat patients.
Meanwhile, Ehsanullah, the Taliban’s director of health for Ghor, said they had sent teams to treat sick children in rural areas and had raised the issue with officials from the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization. He added that Ghor hospitals are also facing a shortage of medicine and medical facilities.
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