By: Rukhshana Media
A measles vaccination campaign has been launched in 24 provinces of Afghanistan which will cover 1.2 million children, the World Health Organization announced.
The children between 6-59 months will get vaccinated, and about 9200 health workers have volunteered to take part in the campaign in 49 districts of 24 provinces, WHO said in a statement.
The campaign started on March 12 and will continue for five days.
“This measles immunization campaign is part of the national response measure to stop the spread of the outbreak, save lives of young children and reduce the burden on health systems”, says Dr. Luo Dapeng, WHO Representative in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan faced a resurgence of measles cases among children. Between January 2021 and March 2022, more than 48,366 measles cases and 250 deaths were registered, WHO said.
The children’s vaccination campaign was halted after the death of eight polio vaccinators last month in northern Afghanistan.
