The Acting Minister of Public Health emphasized strengthening the healthcare system in the country during the inauguration ceremony of the Mass Immunization Building of the Ministry of Public Health, stating that seventeen hospitals will be built at the district level this solar year (1403).

He also called for funding and support for the country's health sector from international organizations and countries.

“We have started working to strengthen the health system at the district level, and to this end, we are in contact with various partners to cooperate with us in building hospitals. This year, 17 public hospitals will be built in different districts,” said Noor Jalal Jalali, the acting Minister of Public Health.

The Deputy Minister of public health services mentioned vaccinating 1.8 million children who have not yet received any vaccines as one of the goals of the program.

“1.8 million children across Afghanistan have missed vaccinations. To properly organize this, the 'Big Catch-up' program has been implemented in two phases,” said the deputy minister, Abdul Wali Haqqani.

“In this program, around 800 male and female vaccinators will provide services. Insha’Allah, they will go to areas that have been deprived of vaccinations,” said Abdul Hakim Hemat, Head of Mass Immunization.

In the meantime, a UNICEF representative, while emphasizing the eradication of polio, said that efforts are ongoing to ensure more children benefit from vaccination.

“The sad part of this is ... Afghanistan is one of the proud countries to have vaccinators giving their lives, Afghanistan is one of the last two countries who have got polio in the world. And one of the reasons (is it is) difficult to eradicate polio or sustain the gain if our routine immunization coverage does not go high up. And the Big Catch-up is the opportunity to increase our routine coverage at least for once with extra effort so that we sustain the gain,” said Muazzam Hussaini, UNICEF representative in Afghanistan.    

According to the National Immunization Program, 4 to 5 million children benefit from this program annually, and there are 3,000 centers for administering various vaccines across the country.