Over 16.7 Million Children Vaccinated in Nationwide Measles Campaign

The National Expanded Program on Immunization of the Directorate General of Disease Prevention and Control states that, through a nationwide two-phase campaign, 16,715,115 children aged six months to ten years received the measles vaccine.

The first phase, conducted from 7 to 16 of Meezan of the current year, vaccinated 8,359,669 children across the provinces of Kabul, Balkh, Badakhshan, Takhar, Panjshir, Logar, Paktia, Maidan Wardak, Ghazni, Paktika, Daikundi, Ghor, Faryab, Baghlan, Badghis, Bamyan, and Sar-e-Pul.

The second phase, carried out from 7 to 17 of Aqrab of the current year, vaccinated 8,355,446 children in Nangarhar, Kunar, Laghman, Nuristan, Kandahar, Zabul, Uruzgan, Helmand, Farah, Herat, Ghor, Kunduz, Samangan, Jawzjan, Kapisa, Parwan, Khost, and Nimroz.

The Ministry of Public Health’s NEPI launched the campaign in response to rising measles transmission, considering it a critical intervention to curb outbreaks, reduce incidence, and prevent child mortality.

The programme was implemented under the leadership and firm support of Mawlawi Noor Jalali Jalali, Minister of Public Health of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, and funded by GAVI—the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, whose support the Ministry formally acknowledges.