Afghanistan has launched its first polio vaccination campaign of 2025, aimed at protecting around 6 million children under five, the health ministry announced on Monday.

The three-day campaign will target 16 of the country’s 34 provinces, ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said.

The official urged community leaders and religious scholars to support the effort to protect children from polio, a debilitating disease that can lead to paralysis and, in some cases, death.

The World Health Organisation has warned that the repatriation of Afghan migrants from neighbouring Pakistan has increased the risk of polio spreading.

In response, Afghanistan has implemented multiple vaccination rounds. Despite these efforts, Afghanistan recorded 25 polio cases in 2024, up from six in 2023, the WHO reported.

Vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan and Pakistan often face challenges due to conspiracy theories that polio vaccines cause infertility or that health workers are spies.

Before seizing power again in August 2021, the Taliban banned door-to-door vaccinations in areas it controlled.

However, the United Nations successfully negotiated with them to resume the nationwide vaccination programme after their return to power

(dpa/NAN)