Pakistan’s national count of polio cases for 2025 has risen to 18 after a new case was confirmed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Friday. The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health confirmed the case in the Tank district.
The press release stated that the case was found in a 10-month-old boy from the Union Council Mullazai of the Tank district, making it the eleventh case in KP this year. The country has also reported five cases from Sindh and one each from Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan. The ongoing detection of polio cases highlights the continued threat to children, particularly in areas where vaccine acceptance is low.
According to the press release, “It is crucial for communities to understand that poliovirus can re-emerge wherever immunity gaps persist. Every unvaccinated child remains vulnerable and can also contribute to the spread of the virus.” The release further emphasized that polio is a “highly infectious and incurable disease” and the only effective protection is through repeated doses of the oral polio vaccine (OPV) for children under five.
Despite significant improvements in nationwide vaccination efforts, the southern districts of KP remain a major concern. The press release noted that restricted access and operational challenges in these areas continue to hinder house-to-house vaccinations, leaving thousands of children unprotected.
Since September 2024, the Pakistan Polio Programme has conducted six high-quality campaigns, reaching over 45 million children in each of four nationwide initiatives. The National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) plans to launch two more nationwide campaigns and one sub-national campaign between August and December, along with targeted campaigns in high-risk districts, to stop virus transmission.
In response to these challenges, especially in southern KP, the prime minister’s focal person on Polio Eradication and the NEOC coordinator recently met with the province’s chief secretary in Peshawar. They discussed campaign performance, current challenges, and strategies to interrupt poliovirus transmission in high-risk southern districts of KP, including Tank. A special planning meeting focused on South KP is also scheduled for August 2-3 at the Chief Secretary’s Office.
