ISLAMABAD: Two more poliovirus cases have been confirmed in the southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, raising Pakistan’s total count this year to 23, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced on Tuesday.
According to a statement from the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at Islamabad’s NIH, the latest cases include a 16-month-old girl from Union Council Mullazai in Tank district and a 24-month-old girl from Union Council Miran Shah-3 in North Waziristan district.
“With these detections, the total number of polio cases in Pakistan in 2025 has reached 23, including 15 cases from KP, six from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan,” the statement said.
The NIH reiterated that polio is a highly infectious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis, adding that the only effective protection lies in repeated doses of the oral polio vaccine (OPV) for every child under five, alongside timely completion of all routine immunisations.
Despite years of progress, Pakistan remains one of the last two countries in the world where the virus is still endemic, alongside Afghanistan. Security challenges, vaccine hesitancy, and persistent misinformation continue to undermine eradication efforts.
The statement cautioned that children in hard-to-reach areas and communities with low vaccine acceptance remain particularly vulnerable. It added that both national and provincial Emergency Operations Centres (EOCs) are working to ensure the rollout of high-quality vaccination campaigns in response to the new detections.
The National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication has scheduled the first campaign of the upcoming low transmission season for September 1 to 7. In southern KP, the campaign will begin on September 15, with a target to immunise more than 28 million children under five across the country.
“The aim is to ensure that every child in these districts is vaccinated against polio as part of ongoing efforts to rapidly strengthen immunity and address existing protection gaps,” the statement stressed, urging parents and caregivers to ensure their children’s participation in the upcoming drives.
The NIH reminded the public that polio eradication is a shared responsibility. While frontline health workers continue to deliver vaccines, communities must counter misinformation, support the campaigns, and encourage parents to complete their children’s routine immunisations.
The latest detections follow two cases reported last week — a six-year-old girl in Kohistan, KP, and a 21-month-old girl in Badin, Sindh. Earlier this month, poliovirus was also found in 36 percent of samples collected across 87 districts nationwide in July, highlighting the urgency of stepped-up vaccination efforts.
