The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that Afghanistan remains one of only two countries worldwide where the polio virus is still endemic. According to the organization, this situation requires sustained investment and urgent strengthening of health services.<\/p>\n
In a report published on Friday, July 10, WHO emphasized that eradicating polio in Afghanistan depends on expanding vaccination coverage, improving primary healthcare, and maintaining regular child immunization programs. The agency believes that without continuous financial and technical support, the risk of a wider resurgence of the disease will persist.<\/p>\n
According to the report, global health budget cuts and increasing pressures on Afghanistan\u2019s health system have posed serious challenges to delivering medical services and implementing vaccination programs. This situation could limit children\u2019s access to the polio vaccine, especially in remote areas.<\/p>\n
WHO also stressed the importance of protecting essential health services and preserving the gains made in recent years in the health sector. It called for strengthening immunization programs amid difficult financial circumstances.<\/p>\n
Henan Balkhi, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, stated that ending polio in Afghanistan requires bolstering primary healthcare and continued investment in the health sector.<\/p>\n
During her visits to Kabul and Kandahar with a delegation from the organization, she met with UN partners, aid agencies, and health workers to discuss ways to expand vaccination efforts, particularly for children who have not yet received the vaccine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WHO warns polio remains endemic in Afghanistan, urging sustained funding and stronger health services to protect children and expand vaccination coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-important-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}