Two new cases of polio have emerged in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bringing the total reported cases in the country this year to three. The cases, confirmed in Bannu and North Waziristan, were detected through the poliovirus surveillance network and verified by the WHO-accredited Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication. With the first case reported in Sujawl district of Sindh province, the total number of polio cases in Pakistan for the year now stands at three.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries globally where polio cases are still being recorded. Recent incidents in KP’s Hangu and Bannu, as well as parts of Balochistan, saw police escorts killed and polio workers abducted during vaccination campaigns. Challenges such as security constraints, community boycotts, and adverse weather conditions have left around 233,000 children unvaccinated, including 184,000 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and approximately 50,000 in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Gilgit Baltistan due to inaccessibility caused by snow.
Parents’ refusal to vaccinate their children poses another obstacle, with Karachi accounting for about 31,000 refusals, a significant portion of the national total. Concerns have been raised regarding misinformation, inadequate planning, weak local governance, and a lack of political attention in Karachi. Since 2014, the World Health Organisation has enforced polio-related travel restrictions on Pakistan, mandating all international travelers to carry a polio vaccination certificate.
