The Government of Japan has committed $6.3 million to support polio eradication and enhance routine immunization services across all 34 provinces of Afghanistan. The 12-month initiative, announced on February 11, 2026, aims to ensure that millions of Afghan children are protected from this preventable disease.
The funding will be used to procure and distribute oral polio vaccines (OPV), targeting more than 12 million children nationwide. The initiative will also expand the use of the novel oral polio vaccine (nOPV2), which has been deployed nearly 2 billion times globally in recent years to curb outbreaks.
Afghanistan remains one of only two countries worldwide, alongside Pakistan, where wild poliovirus type 1 is still circulating, posing a serious risk of paralysis and death to unvaccinated children. Despite major progress, transmission continues in high-risk southern regions of the country.
Official data from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and local health authorities show that wild polio cases in Afghanistan fell from 25 in 2024 to 13 in 2025, and no new cases have been reported as of early February 2026. Globally, wild polio cases totaled 44 in 2025, including 13 in Afghanistan and 31 in Pakistan, down from 99 cases the previous year.
This downward trend underscores the effectiveness of ongoing vaccination campaigns, while Japan’s renewed financial support reinforces efforts to eliminate polio entirely from Afghanistan. Health experts hope that with continued immunization, Afghanistan will soon join the ranks of polio-free nations, safeguarding future generations from the disease.
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