"Vaccination Diplomacy"

This Wall Street Journal story illustrates the complexity of the World Health Organization's task in the south of Afghanistan.

It discusses the diplomatic and political issue of negotiating with the Taliban for access.

Polio fury

Afghanistan held National Immunization Days in January and March targeted 7.5 million children under 5 years of age for protection against various diseases including Polio. Although normal winter conditions blocked access to many districts with 702,000 children most of these were or will be protected later. Monitoring confirms that in the vast majority of covered districts the target of 95% coverage was achieved. Although Afghanistan is one of only four countries with significant polio problems, surveillance and treatment is generally well established. HOWEVER, the Taliban blocked access to districts with 226,000 eligible children. Nearly a quarter of a million Afghan children are denied access to routine polio protection by these fundamentalists.