Polio Eradication 2011 – UNICEF

This grant to UNICEF supports the polio immunization activities of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in Afghanistan. Through the Polio Eradication project, more than seven million children across Afghanistan receive polio vaccinations, 400,000 of them in Kandahar province. Polio vaccination campaigns occur regularly throughout Afghanistan at a national level and also at a provincial level in areas where there is a higher rate of incidence of the disease. The polio campaigns are also used as a platform for delivering other essential health services such as micronutrient supplementation and health promotion. Afghanistan is one of four countries in the world where children can still contract polio. Children younger than the age of five are most at risk for being infected by the disease and the risk is highest in southern Afghanistan, which includes Kandahar province. (Northern Afghanistan is considered to be polio-free.) The biggest barrier to eradicating polio in Afghanistan is the unstable security situation. As part of the project, local health workers work to ensure that the polio vaccine is administered to children despite this situation. UNICEF leads the procurement and distribution of polio vaccines for the immunization campaigns, as well as providing technical assistance and communications support for the campaigns. CIDA has also partnered with the World Health Organization (WHO) for the implementation of the Polio Eradication project.