Pakistan health authorities confirmed two new polio cases (WPV1) from South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa—The cases involve a 19-month-old girl from Union Council Mir Ali 2, District North Waziristan, and an 11-month-old girl from Union Council Suleman Khel, District Lakki Marwat.
This brings the the total number of polio cases in Pakistan in 2025 to 26.
Eighteen cases have been reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (69%), while the remaining cases were reported from Sindh (6), Punjab (1) and Gilgit-Baltistan (1).
Despite significant progress, the continued detection of cases, particularly in Southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, remains a concern. Children living in hard-to-reach areas and those in communities with low vaccine acceptance remain most at risk. The National and Provincial Emergency Operations Centres (EOCs) are implementing all possible measures to ensure high-quality vaccination campaigns. A special action plan for South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was developed and being implemented under the supervision of Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, focusing on strengthening monitoring, addressing access challenges, and promoting community-led initiatives to reach unreached children in high-risk areas.
A Sub-National Polio vaccination Campaign in South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has started today (September 15 – 18). Ahead of this campaign, Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mr. Shahab Ali Shah, chaired a meeting of the Provincial Task Force on Polio to review preparations for the campaign in South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He directed urgent, intensified efforts to ensure no child is left unvaccinated.
Earlier this month, the National Emergency Operations Centre conducted a sub-national polio vaccination campaign from 1–7 September 2025 in 81 districts across the country, successfully reaching more than 19.8 million children under five. These campaigns are designed to rapidly strengthen immunity and increase protection as part of ongoing efforts to eradicate polio from Pakistan. Parents and caregivers are strongly urged to ensure their children are vaccinated in every campaign, as vaccination remains the only effective protection against lifelong disability.
Polio is a highly infectious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis. The only effective protection is repeated doses of the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) for every child under five during each campaign, together with the timely completion of all routine immunizations.