Friday, June 11, 2010

WHO vaccinates 1.2 million Afghan Children


Following an outbreak of nearly 200 cases of polio in the Tajikistan/Pakistan area, the World Health Organization initiated a mass vaccination effort to stop the deadly disease. In order to maximize the number of children vaccinated, the WHO administered the vaccine in four ways: through mobile clinics, using teams in hospitals, doing house-to-house visits, and vaccinating all children traveling through border crossings. In 2007, the Afghanistan and Pakistan national governments worked with the WHO to vaccinate over 40 million children against the disease. Afghanistan's Badakhshan region, and indeed most of the western world, has been polio free for over 10 years. Polio mostly affects children under the age of 5, and is spread through person-to-person contact.