The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that in a four-day polio vaccination campaign, 8.5 million children under the age of five were vaccinated across Afghanistan in July.

According to the WHO report, four new cases of polio were recorded in the provinces of Kandahar and Uruzgan, and 11 cases of environmental polio were registered in Nangarhar, Laghman, Kandahar, Helmand, and Kabul.

Out of the newly recorded cases, three were registered in Kandahar province.

The WHO report said that this month “Four new WPV1 cases were reported this month: three from Kandahar and one from Helmand in the South. Eleven WPV1 positive environmental sampes were reported in August, three from Kandahar and four from Helmand in the South, one each from Nangarhar and Laghmon in the East and one from Kabul in Central region.”

The report further mentioned that among the 8.5 million children, 13,702 were Afghan returnees who had recently come back to the country.

Doctor Sayed Abdullah Ahmadi commented on the vaccination process for returnee children, saying, "It is necessary to identify and check which vaccines they have received in other countries and which they haven't. This is very important for ensuring that the vaccination chain can be successful across Afghanistan."

Another doctor, Mujtaba Sufi, said: "Unfortunately, in the region we live in, polio cases are still being seen, and this is due to the movement of people across borders. When migrants return from foreign countries to their homeland, teams from the Ministry of Public Health must ensure they are fully vaccinated at the borders, which can be highly effective in preventing polio."

While the Ministry of Public Health has not commented on this matter, it had previously said that no positive polio cases had been recorded in the country so far this year.