At least 28 Afghan children have died from outbreaks of whooping cough and measles in central Afghanistan in the past week, the public health minister said on Sunday.

The public health ministry has rushed medical teams and equipment by road and air to prevent an epidemic of measles and whooping cough in Deh Rawud district of Uruzgan and in Gezab district of Dai Kundi provinces, he said.

Sayed Mohammad Amin Fatemi said 25 children had died from whooping cough in Gezab while three children had died of measles in Deh Rawud.

“The deaths have happened in a period of a week’s time,” Fatemi told a news conference.

Both Uruzgan and Dai Kundi are among the most remote and impoverished parts of war-torn Afghanistan.

Fatemi said the government was planning to launch a massive immunisation campaign in the two affected areas after assessing the extent of the disease outbreaks.