Editor's note: this story was translated from the original VOA Pashto article.
A nationwide polio vaccination campaign began Monday in Afghanistan, with the Taliban setting the goal of vaccinating some 13 million children under the age of five.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Public Health announced that the campaign, in coordination with international partners, would run from November 2 through November 5. The campaign will extend to the Southern Zone from November 3 through 6, and in the Logar Province from November 9 through 13.
The vaccination campaign comes as the World Health Organization reported six new poliovirus cases last month, bringing the total to 42.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Public Health said that it is committed to preventing the spread of poliovirus throughout Afghanistan, calling on religious and tribal leaders and parents to support the campaign.
The Taliban, however, did not say whether they would allow house-to-house vaccination in Afghanistan, particularly in the country's southern region where cases have increased sharply.
The Islamist group suspended house-to-house vaccination campaigns in September 2024, and the only vaccination was through site-to-site efforts, including vaccination at mosques and other designated locations.
Since the restrictions, the number of positive poliovirus cases has increased in the country. Polio cases have risen sharply this year, to 42, double the total for 2025.
Kamal Shah, a former UNICEF communications officer, told VOA that one of the reasons that the cases increased in Afghanistan is the suspension of house-to-house polio vaccination.
“House-to-house campaigns are banned, and families cannot take their children to the mosques,” he said, adding that other reasons include increasing malnutrition in the country and the limited number of women vaccinators.
Polio is an infectious viral disease that largely affects children under five years of age.
WPV1 is one of three original strains of wild poliovirus that attacks the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis or death.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the two remaining countries where cases of wild poliovirus type 1 are still reported, while wild poliovirus types 2 and 3 were declared eradicated in 2015 and 2019, respectively.
Gulakhan Ayoub, the Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network's Vaccination Program advisor in Kabul, told VOA that eradicating poliovirus in Afghanistan is a challenge, as not all children in the country receive vaccinations.
“Children in displaced, returnee and nomadic families are more likely to go without vaccination,” he said.
Ayoub added that these marginalized communities need dedicated teams to reduce the risk of missed vaccinations.