A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child in a school, in Karachi, Pakistan, on September 1, 2025
| Photo Credit: AP

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A police officer stands guard as a health worker (right) administers a polio vaccine to a child in a neighborhood of Peshawar, Pakistan. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Pakistan began a nationwide vaccination campaign on Monday (October 28, 2024) to protect 45 million children from polio after a surge in new cases that has hampered years of efforts to stop the disease in one of the two countries where it has never been eradicated.

Pakistan regularly launches such campaigns, but violence targeting the health workers and police assigned to escort them is common. Militants falsely claim the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilise children.

Pakistan reports two new polio cases; tally rises to 39 this year

The campaign is the third this year and will continue until Sunday “in response to the alarming increase in polio cases,” said Ayesha Raza Farooq, the Prime Minister’s advisor for the polio eradication programme. “We are re-energised in our efforts to combat polio,” she said in a statement.

During the door-to-door campaign, children younger than five will be vaccinated and given drops of Vitamin A supplements to enhance their immunity. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently met with front-line health workers, urging them to ensure no child was left unvaccinated by going door-to-door.

Anwarul Haq, who is the coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication, also urged parents to fully cooperate with polio workers. “Polio has no cure, but it can be prevented with this readily available vaccine,” he said.

Four new polio cases reported in Pakistan, tally rises to 37 this year

“Pakistan has recorded 41 cases across 71 districts so far this year,” Ms. Farooq said. Most were reported from southwestern Balochistan and southern Sindh province, following by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and eastern Punjab province.

The surge in cases in new locations is worrying authorities since previous cases were from the restive northwest bordering Afghanistan, where the Taliban government in September suddenly stopped a door-to-door vaccination campaign.

Authorities in Pakistan say the Afghan Taliban’s recent decision to stop door-to-door anti-polio campaign will have repercussions beyond the Afghan border, as people from both sides frequently travel to each other’s country. The World Health Organisation has confirmed 18 polio cases in Afghanistan this year.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where the spread of polio has never been stopped. It is one of the world’s most infectious diseases, so it continues to spread anywhere people are not fully vaccinated. In severe cases, polio can cause permanent paralysis and death.

A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a neighbourhood of Peshawar, Pakistan. File
| Photo Credit: AP

“Pakistan has reported 39 polio cases this year, with two fresh cases of the crippling disease being detected in the Sindh province,” authorities said on Sunday (October 20, 2024.)

“The latest cases were confirmed on Saturday (October 19, 2024) in the Sanghar and Mirpurkhas districts of the province,” the Dawn newspaper reported.

Pakistan confirms 5th polio case of year 17 days after victim’s death

These come after four cases were reported a day earlier, jolting the country’s efforts to eradicate the poliovirus. According to the Regi­o­nal Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication in Islamabad, the newest victims are a girl and a boy.

“These are the first polio cases from Mirpur­khas and Sanghar this year,” the report quoted an official as saying. “The prevalence of the virus had already been confirmed in the two neighbouring districts following multiple environmental samples testing positive for WPV1 since April,” the official added.

In ten months of the year, Pakistan has reported 39 cases of poliovirus, of which 20 were reported from Bal­o­c­h­istan, 12 from Sindh, five from Khyber Pakhtun­khwa and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq acknowledged the spread of the virus across the country but noted that a strategy has been developed to eradicate the crippling disease by June 2025.

“The Pakistan Polio Programme has planned a new nationwide vaccination campaign from October 28 to immunise more than 45 million children under the age of five,” the report said.

“Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in the world where polio remains endemic,” according to the World Health Organization.

A police officer stands guard as a health worker, right, administers a polio vaccine to a child in a neighbourhood of Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Pakistan reported another four cases of polio virus taking the national tally to 37 this year, a media report said on Saturday (October 19, 2024).

The regional reference laboratory for polio eradication at the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, on Friday, confirmed the detection of wild poliovirus type-1 (WPV 1) in three children from Balochistan and one child from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Dawn newspaper reported.

The children affected by the wild poliovirus include a girl from Pishin, two boys from Chaman and Noshki in Balochistan, and a girl from Lakki Marwat district of KP, according to an official of the regional reference laboratory for polio eradication.

Of the 37 cases detected from across Pakistan so far this year, the official said, 20 have been reported from Balochis­tan, 10 from Sindh, five from KP, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

“Genetic sequencing of the cases is underway,” he disclosed.

“These were the first polio cases from Noshki and Lakki Marwat this year,” he said, adding that both Chaman and Pishin had reported one poliovirus case each earlier as well.

Officials claimed that the fight against poliovirus in Balochistan and southern KP suffered throughout 2023 and early 2024, as immunisation campaigns were either staggered or postponed due to localised protests, insecurity and community boycotts, leaving a cohort of missed children who could sustain virus transmission.

Noshki is located on the border with Afghanistan and borders Quetta and Mastung districts where environmental samples have tested positive for WPV1 in recent months, indicating virus circulation, while Lakki Marwat has also reported multiple positive environmental samples recently.

A nationwide polio vaccination campaign will be launched on October 28 to vaccinate more than 45 million children under the age of five against paralytic polio, according to Dawn.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in the world where polio remains endemic, according to the World Health Organisation.

Islamabad:

Pakistan reported another case of poliovirus after a child was paralysed in the Sindh province, increasing the country’s total tally to 16 in 2024, an official told the media on Friday.

An official from the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad said that the wild Poliovirus type-1 (WPV1) was confirmed in a 29-month-old girl from Hyderabad district of the province, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the official, poliovirus traces have been reported in 62 districts of the South Asian country so far this year, a significant increase from 28 districts last year.

“This is the first polio case from Hyderabad and the third from Sindh, and the 16th case in Pakistan this year,” said the NIH official, adding that 12 cases were reported from the southwestern Balochistan province, three from Sindh, and one from the eastern Punjab province.

Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq said, “The latest case is a clear reminder that until we eradicate this virus from our country, no child anywhere is safe from its devastating effects.”

She added that WPV1 was consistently being reported in sewage samples of Hyderabad for the last four months, reiterating the continued risk of polio circulating anywhere in the country.

“We are operating on an emergency footing in all provinces given the intensity of the outbreak and extent of virus spread. The polio program has been implementing a comprehensive roadmap to interrupt virus transmission, beginning with an extensive, large-scale polio vaccination campaign from September 9,” she said.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Anwar-ul-Haq, coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication, said a thorough investigation was being conducted to identify the origins of the virus and immunisation of children.

“Poliovirus has been circulating in adjacent districts of Karachi and Hyderabad for several months,” he said.

“Every child’s wellbeing is important to us, and we will be launching a vaccination campaign in all affected districts from September 9 to boost children’s immunity.”

Polio has been eliminated in developed nations but persists in parts of India, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Many Pakistanis, particularly those residing in the conservative tribal areas, consider polio vaccination a Western campaign aimed at sterilising the country’s population. In 2012, the local Taliban ordered a ban on immunisation against polio in some tribal districts.

Nearly a dozen policemen have been killed this year while on security duty during vaccination campaigns which are frequently targeted by operatives.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A woman receives polio drops while waiting to cross main Afghanistan-Pakistan land border crossing, in Pakistan. File
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Pakistan has reported the fourth polio case of the year, jolting the country’s efforts to eradicate the crippling disease.

The case was reported on Saturday as the government appointed a new head of the polio eradication programme after his predecessor stepped down during the week.

The Dawn newspaper reported having a document showing that the victim was a 30-month-old child hailing from the Lakhi region of the Shikarpur district of the Sindh province.

The child was taken to a hospital after he suddenly developed weakness in both lower limbs and could not hold his neck up, according to the report.

This case was the first to be reported from the Sindh province, as the previous three victims belonged to Balochistan.

According to the National Institute of Health in Islamabad, the newest case was also of the Type-1 Wild Poliovirus (WPV1), just like the previous three cases.

The Prime Minister’s coordinator on National Health Services, Dr. Malik Mukhtar Bharat, said teams have been deployed to conduct a full case investigation.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Health Services appointed Muhammad Anwarul Haq, the ministry’s joint secretary, as the National Emer­gency Operation Centre for Polio Eradication coordinator on Saturday.

He replaced Dr. Shahzad Baig, who resigned on Friday, citing personal reasons.

Additionally, a new campaign to vaccinate over 16.5 million children under the age of five in 66 districts will be launched on Monday.

The drive, planned ahead of the peak travel season of Eidul Azha, will fully cover 36 districts and partially 30 districts.

These areas included Islamabad, 20 districts of Balochistan, 23 of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 16 of Sindh and six of Punjab. It will be the fifth polio vaccination campaign of the year.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in the world where polio remains endemic, according to the World Health Organisation.