Monthly Snapshot of the Afghanistan Polio Eradication Programme

Kabul, 29 March 2021 – The second national polio immunisation campaign of 2021 was launched today by the Ministry of Public Health of Afghanistan, in collaboration with UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO). Approximately 9.9 million children under the age of 5 will be targeted against polio during the 5-day campaign across the country except for a few areas due to extreme weather conditions or security-related access restrictions. A supplementary dose of vitamin A will also be administered to children aged 6 to 59 months during this campaign. This will help build general immunity among susceptible children to protect them from polio and other diseases. Read More

POLIO TRANSMISSION

• No new Wild Poliovirus (WPV1) cases and 9 new cVDPV2 cases were confirmed in March 2021

AFP ENVIRONMENTAL & COVID-19 SURVEILLANCE

• 358 children with Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP)
  – 169 females and 189 males – were reported in March 2021. A total of 1,063 AFP cases have been reported since the beginning of 2021.
  Of these, 793 cases have been discarded as non-polio. About 237 cases are pending final classification
• The non-polio AFP rate remained above 9, stool adequacy stood above 89%, and non-polio enterovirus rate ranged between 7-14% in all regions
• One new WPV1 positive environmental sample and 17 new cVDPV2 positive environmental samples were confirmed in March 2021

NATIONAL IMMUNISATION ACTIVITIES

• 6,649,243 children were vaccinated against polio during the March NIDs

COMPLEMENTARY VACCINATION ACTIVITIES

• 15 cross-border vaccination points, 51 cross- border teams and 196 permanent transit sites (PTTs) were operational in March 2021
• Permanent transit teams vaccinated 665,473 children, and cross-border teams vaccinated 164,447 children against polio in March 2021
• 789 children under 10 were given OPV and 59 children were vaccinated with IPV, respectively in UNHCR repatriation centers and IOM sites receiving returnees and refugees from Pakistan and Iran in March 2021

PEI support to COVID-19 till end of March

• 35,451 suspected cases of COVID-19 were reported, of which 1,440 tested positive
• 5,979 government and NGO partners were trained on COVID-19 surviellance
• 126,780 health professional (Including paramedics/nurses) were trained on COVID-19 surviellance
• 240,999 community and religious influencers were reached for support and training

Key communication activities

• 739 local governance representatives, religious influencers and community influencers were engaged by frontline workers (FLWs) in the south, south-east, west and north east regions to address refusals, support campaign announcements and investigate absent children in their neighbourhoods
• 494,255 females attended polio and maternal and newborn child health (MNCH) awareness sessions organised by the Female Mobiliser Vaccinators (FMVs). A total of 45,348 such sessions were held in health facilities in different regions
• 108,072 caregivers (including 89,771 females) were engaged by the Immunisation Communication Network (ICN) in polio, routine immunisation, mother and child health promotion activities, and COVID-19 prevention through house-to-house visits, community meetings, and educational sessions in the south, south-east, north-east, and west regions
• In the South region, coordination and partnership meetings were held with the Directorate of Education and Directorate of Rural Rehabilitation and Development of Kandahar aimed at engaging 1,000 headteachers and 1,900 members of Community Development Councils (CDCs) to promote vaccine uptake
• 5,539 elderly females, as household members who have potential influence in decision making in families, were reached through 2,200 sessions with home-based polio and MNCH orientations in high-refusal clusters of Kandahar, Hilmand, and Nimruz provinces
• ICN referred 54,259 mothers and children in the south region for different health services using referral Of those 26,294 (48%) used services during March 2021
• ICN referred a total of 35,898 mothers and children for routine immunisation, 51% (18,321) of the total referred received routine immunisation in March 2021
• From January-March 2021, 105,338 people were referred for routine immunisation by 50% (51,671) of them received routine immunisation