PESHAWAR: Pakistan has confirmed two new polio cases in its northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bringing the total number of children affected by the crippling virus this year to 23, health authorities said on Tuesday.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio remains endemic. Pakistan made significant progress in curbing the virus, with annual cases dropping from around 20,000 in the early 1990s to just eight in 2018. Pakistan reported six cases in 2023 and only one in 2021, but the country saw a sharp resurgence in 2024 with 74 cases recorded.
Polio is a highly infectious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis. The only effective protection is through repeated doses of the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) for every child under five during each campaign, alongside timely completion of all routine immunizations.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, has confirmed two new poliovirus cases from South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, one from District Tank and the other from District North Waziristan,” the National Emergency Operations Center for Polio Eradication said in a statement.
The cases include a 16-month-old girl from Union Council Mullazai in District Tank and a 24-month-old girl from Union Council Miran Shah-3 in District North Waziristan.
Of the 23 confirmed cases so far this year, 15 have been reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, six in Sindh, and one each in Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Health authorities noted that despite major progress in recent years, the continued detection of polio cases in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was alarming.
“It underscores that children in hard-to-access areas and those with low vaccine acceptance continue to be at risk. However, the National and Provincial Emergency Operations Centers are taking all possible measures to ensure the implementation of high-quality vaccination campaigns,” the statement added.
To stop transmission, the National Emergency Operations Center has drawn up a vaccination campaign schedule for the upcoming low-transmission season.
“The first campaign of the season will be conducted from September 1–7, 2025, while in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the campaign will commence on September 15. More than 28 million under-5 children will receive polio drops in door-to-door vaccination campaign,” the statement said.
The center stressed that eliminating polio required collective responsibility.
“Polio eradication is a shared responsibility,” it said, urging parents to ensure children complete all recommended doses.
The statement added that communities could play their part by supporting vaccination campaigns, countering misinformation and encouraging others to immunize.
Past efforts to eradicate the virus have been repeatedly undermined by vaccine misinformation and resistance from some religious hard-liners, who claim immunization is a foreign plot to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western espionage.
Militant groups have also frequently targeted polio vaccination teams and the security personnel assigned to protect them, particularly in KP and Balochistan.
