The current fiscal year’s first polio vaccination campaign began on Monday, and officials said that Afghanistan ranks nearly at the top globally of reported poliovirus cases in the past nine years, second only to Pakistan.

UNICEF officials said that 56 new cases of poliovirus were reported in Afghanistan in 2020.

According to UNICEF, 2020 was a bad year for Afghanistan since 2011 in which 56 new cases of poliovirus were reported.

The campaign is expected to cover 9.6 million children under five years of age in the country.

Acting Minister of Public Health Waheed Majroh called on religious scholars, tribal elders and warring sides to pave the way for polio vaccination countrywide.

“We call on all sides … to create the environment so that every child is vaccinated against polio,” he said.

According to figures, 310 cases of a new type of poliovirus were reported in the country since last March.

So far this year, 23 new cases of polio have been reported in the country.

Afghanistan is the most affected country from poliovirus in the world after Pakistan.