KABUL -- Japan Tuesday (December 13) pledged US $12.4 million (825.6 million AFN) to Afghanistan to help it eradicate polio, Pajhwok Afghan News reported.
This amount comes on top of more than US $75m (5 billion AFN) that Japan has provided since 2010 to support the Polio Eradication Initiative and Expanded Programme on Immunisation.
Japanese Ambassador Mitsuji Suzuka and UNICEF Representative Adele Khodr signed the 12-month agreement in Kabul.
"Polio cases [in Afghanistan] have decreased from 20 in 2015 to 12 this year," Khodr said at the ceremony.
Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan are the only countries where polio remains endemic.
