KABUL, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Some 1.2 million Afghan children have benefited from polio immunization program conducted for the International Day of Peace campaign in eight provinces in the war-torn country, said a statement of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on Monday.

    The three-day drive vaccination, wrapped up on Monday, was a joint effort by the Afghan health authorities, World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).

    About 97.5 percent of the targeted children were immunized, with health workers unable to reach only 13 of the intended 593 locations including some of the riot areas in the south such as Kandahar, Uruzgan and Helmand, the statement said.

    It noted that "the immunization drive was part of the ongoing effort to eradicate polio in Afghanistan, which is one of just four remaining polio-endemic countries."

    "This is better than any immunization round in Afghanistan in the past 18 months," said Peter Graaff, WHO Country Representative.

    Afghan Public Health Minister Sayed Amin Fatimi also commended that this immunization round, involving 14,000 health workers and volunteers, was a great success.

    The Taliban agreed not to block access to health workers involved in the campaign, it added.

    Since 2007, Afghanistan's Peace Day campaigns have resulted in polio immunization for 4.5 million children in the country's most insecure areas.