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The recent killing of polio vaccinators in Afghanistan is a cause for concern, especially in a country where lack of a vaccination drive may lead to an outbreak of polio cases, a media report said on Tuesday.
A Khaama Press report said the Taliban and other Islamist leaders have misled the citizens about polio immunization. They have been saying that the polio vaccine is a Western conspiracy aimed at sterilizing Muslim children, the report added. Local media reports said the health workers and aid agencies have been facing severe threats from terrorist organizations. According to Khaama, Afghanistan has failed to save its citizens, health workers, former government officials, and other professionals from attacks. Incidents of attack, harassment, arbitrary arrest, ill-treatment, and killings are being reported regularly, the report added. The UN last week had condemned the killing of eight polio vaccination workers in northern Afghanistan, the first such attacks since immunization campaigns resumed in November last year. A member of the vaccination transit team was killed in Taloqan district in Takhar province, while four members of house-to-house teams were murdered in two separate incidents in Kunduz city, according to a statement from the UN Country Team. Two vaccinators and a social mobilizer were killed in the Kunduz province's Emamsaheb district. Ramiz Alakbarov, the Secretary-General's Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, condemned these killings. Alakbarov said the attacks and assassinations were a violation of international humanitarian law. World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Ghebreyeus also expressed his profound shock. "We extend our deepest condolences to their families and colleagues," he wrote, adding that health workers should not be targeted. Last year, nine polio workers were killed during national polio vaccination campaigns. (ANI)
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