The United Nations reported Monday that the Taliban had discontinued polio immunization camps in Afghanistan. It's a major blow for polio eradication since the virus is one of the world's most contagious, and any unvaccinated groups of youngsters where the virus is spreading could reverse years of progress.

Afghanistan is one of two countries where the potentially lethal, paralysing disease has never been eliminated. The other country is Pakistan. The Taliban's decision is likely to have far-reaching consequences for other countries in the region and overseas.

The halt was announced to United Nations organisations just as the immunisation campaign was set to begin in September. The suspension was announced without explanation, and no one from the Taliban-controlled government was immediately available for comment.

polio immunization camps
Image Source: World Health Organization (WHO)

According to a senior World Health Organization official, there have been talks to switch from house-to-house vaccination campaigns to immunisation clinics in locations like mosques.

This year, the WHO has identified 18 cases of polio in Afghanistan, with all but two occurring in the southern region of the nation. As compared to 2023, there were six cases. "The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is aware of the recent policy discussions on shifting from house-to-house polio vaccination campaigns to site-to-site vaccination in parts of Afghanistan," the World Health Organization's Dr. Hamid Jafari said. “Partners are in the process of discussing and understanding the scope and impact of any change in current policy.”

Challenges in Polio Campaigns in Pakistan

Polio campaigns in neighbouring Pakistan are frequently disrupted by violence. Militants attack vaccination teams and police officers assigned to safeguard them, erroneously claiming that the programs are a Western plot to sterilise youngsters.

As of August, the WHO reported that Afghanistan and Pakistan were still implementing a "intensive and synchronised campaign" aimed at improving vaccination coverage in endemic zones and responding quickly to detections elsewhere.

During a statewide campaign in June 2024, Afghanistan adopted a house-to-house vaccination method for the first time in five years, according to the WHO, which helped reach the majority of the targeted children.

However, southern Kandahar province, home to Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, conducted site-to-site or mosque-to-mosque vaccination efforts, which are less effective than travelling to people's homes.

The WHO stated that Kandahar continues to have a big pool of susceptible children since house-to-house immunisations are not being administered. "The overall women's inclusion in vaccination campaigns remains around 20% in Afghanistan, leading to inadequate access to all children in some areas," according to the report.

Polio Eradication Program at Risk

The WHO warned last month that any failure in Afghanistan puts the program in Pakistan at risk due to high population migration. Anwarul Haq, a Pakistani health expert, stated that if vaccination efforts are not conducted on a regular and synchronised basis, the polio virus will spread and continue to affect children in both nations.

"Afghanistan is the only neighbour from which a large number of Afghans travel to Pakistan and then return," said Haq, coordinator of the National Emergency Operation Centre for Polio Eradication. "People from other neighbouring countries, like India and Iran, don't come to Pakistan in large numbers." He told The Associated Press that eradicating the disease requires a collaborative effort.

The campaign stoppage is the latest setback in what has become a problematic worldwide drive to eradicate polio. The effort, which costs over $1 billion per year, has missed several disease-eradication dates, and technological errors in WHO and partner immunisation strategies have proven costly.

The oral vaccine is currently responsible for the majority of polio cases globally and has unintentionally started outbreaks in numerous countries in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

This was demonstrated most recently in Gaza, where a modified strain of polio that was initially identified in the oral vaccine partially paralysed a newborn, the first incidence in the area in almost 25 years.

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