The Taliban regime’s withdrawal into itself is becoming increasingly limited. After Kabul’s refusal to accept the international community’s calls to review its policy of erasing women from social life, Afghan Islamists are attacking the UN campaign against polio. On Monday, September 16, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that the wave of vaccinations that was due to begin in Afghanistan had been suspended. This country is the last, along with Pakistan, where the disease remains endemic.
WHO regional director Hamid Jafari said discussions were underway with Taliban authorities to determine a new date. On Tuesday, after denying the abrupt halt, a health ministry spokesman said his country ” wish[ait] use more professional methods to stop the spread of the disease”According to the WHO, the Taliban want vaccinations to be carried out in mosques or public places under their control and no longer by the door-to-door method.
Low rate of inclusion of women
For the UN, this decision “can have disastrous effects, especially on the country’s young population”. This virus is one of the most infectious in the world and unvaccinated children are the primary spreaders of a disease that can cause death or paralysis. Interrupting this vaccination campaign could undo years of progress in health protection.
WHO recalls that eighteen cases of polio have been recorded in Afghanistan over the past eight months, mainly in the south of the country. This figure is up from 2023, which had a total of six cases. Diplomat, Dr. Hamid Jafari of the WHO assures that “All partners are in discussions to understand the scope and impact of any changes in the current polio eradication policy”These discussions can last because they are not only about questions of efficiency, but also, and above all, about the regime’s idea of its sovereignty and the adequacy of the fight against polio with its conception of Islamic law.
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Over the summer, the WHO announced that Afghanistan and Pakistan had engaged in a “intensive and synchronized campaign” to improve vaccination coverage. For the first time since 2019, WHO was able to go door-to-door in June, which it said reached the majority of targeted children. Only the southern province of Kandahar, stronghold of the Taliban’s supreme leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, had imposed the use of public spaces transformed into vaccination sites, especially mosques, which appeared “much less effective” according to UN experts. The other flaw, they say, is in “ the overall rate of inclusion of women in vaccination campaigns, of the order of 20%, which has the effect of increasing the number of infected children”.
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