Afghanistan Presses Ahead to End Polio
Afghanistan's relentless effort to finish polio has succeeded in cornering the virus in the country's southern region, according to a World Health Organization report in February.
Afghanistan
is part of a larger zone of virus transmission that includes southern Pakistan. Strong immunization coverage of children living in the border areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan is critical to both countries' efforts to end polio. "This is a virus that does not respect borders," said Dr. Rudolf Tangermann, a medical officer with WHO's polio eradication initiative, following Afghanistan's National Immunization Days (NIDs) in 2007. "These two countries cannot eradicate polio in isolation."
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