The World Health Organization (WHO) voiced worries on the rise in polio cases in Afghanistan during the thirty-seventh meeting of the Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) on the international spread of poliovirus.

WHO said in a statement that the recent major increase in the number of Afghan returnees from Pakistan, significantly increases the risk of cross-border poliovirus spread.

“The recent major increase in the number of Afghan returnees from Pakistan has compounded the humanitarian challenges in Afghanistan. The country received close to 0.3 million Afghan returnees from mid-September to mid-November and the expected total number of returnees is 1.7 million. This massive population movement significantly increases the risk of cross-border poliovirus spread as well as spread within the two countries. The polio programme in Afghanistan has activated a contingency plan and deployed additional teams and supervisors in critical areas and routes to vaccinate the children in the returnee populations,” the statement reads.

However, the Ministry of Public Health said that the ministry is ready to prevent various diseases in the country, especially the fight against polio.

“More work should be done in this sector, because when the immigrants come, the majority of them are suffering from various diseases, and the international community should help us in this regard so that we can provide better services,” the ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman Amarkhil added.

In the meantime,  Diana Rojas Alvarez, the team lead on arboviruses - epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention department at the WHO’s emergencies program, told a UN briefing in Geneva that over 5 million cases and 5,000 deaths of dengue have been reported worldwide since the beginning of 2023.
Nearly 80% of the dengue cases – 4.1 million – have been reported in the Americas, followed by Southeast Asia and Western Pacific, Rojas said.

"It is also concerning that dengue outbreaks are occurring in fragile and conflict-affected countries of the Eastern Mediterranean WHO region such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Somalia, and Yemen," she said, adding that these countries are facing simultaneously outbreaks of infectious diseases, mass population movements, poor water and sanitation infrastructure, and recurring natural disasters.

According to medical professionals, mosquitoes transmit this infectious disease primarily in warm and semi-warm regions. 

“The figures show that from January to now, 1,210 patients in Nangarhar province have been examined, and 400 of those patients have tested positive,” said Rashid Wafa, a doctor.

"Dengue is a contagious and viral disease that is a global problem which can affect adults and children. There are many cases of this disease in warm and semi-warm provinces and countries,” said Faridullah Omari, another doctor.

However, the Ministry of Public Health said sufficient supplies of medication and equipment have been deployed to the warm provinces to stop the disease's spread.