October 26, 2026
Peshawar Begins Polio Drive for 1.11 Million Children
A six-day drive targets 1,111,107 children across 48 high-risk union councils, with 1,728 teams and 1,383 social mobilisers deployed.
Articles for tag: Children, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar, Polio, public health, vaccination
June 25, 2026
Pakistan Races June Deadline to Halt Wild Polio as 2026 Case Count Holds at Three
With only three wild poliovirus cases recorded so far in 2026 and environmental detections shrinking to a handful of districts, Pakistan is pushing to interrupt transmission within a critical first-half window even as militant attacks on vaccinators persist.
Fresh polio cases emerge in KP as 2025 Pakistan toll rises to 31
A girl receives polio vaccine drops during an anti-polio campaign in a low-income neighborhood in Karachi, July 20, 2020. — Reuters A 5th case of polio has been confirmed from the North Waziristan region. Southern KP reports the majority of cases in 2025. A nationwide polio campaign is planned for early February. KARACHI: The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has confirmed a new case of wild poliovirus (WPV1) in North Waziristan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), bringing the total number of polio cases in Pakistan in 2025 to 31. The National Emergency Operations Center,
Pakistan sees significant reduction in polio cases by 2025
A health worker administers polio drops to a child during a door-to-door vaccination campaign in Peshawar on September 12, 2024. — AFP No cases of polio have been reported anywhere in the country since September. No cases of polio were reported in Balochistan and Punjab for more than a year. Six nationwide anti-polio campaigns carried out in 2025. Pakistan has made significant progress in its fight against polio, with the number of cases expected to drop sharply in 2025, according to the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC). Official figures show that only 30 cases of polio have been reported so
Pakistan records significant decline in polio cases by 2025: Minister
A health worker administers polio drops to a child during a door-to-door vaccination campaign in Peshawar on September 12, 2024. — AFP The vaccination process will take place from December 15 to 21 across the country. More than 45 million children across the country are targeted to be vaccinated. Pakistan between the two countries where polio remains endemic. Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal on Thursday launched the last polio campaign of the coming year 2025, which aimed to immunize more than 45 million children across Pakistan against the debilitating disease. The drive will take place from 15 to 21
Abu Dhabi summit boosts Pakistan’s bid to end polio
A boy receives polio vaccine drops during an anti-polio campaign in a low-income neighborhood in Karachi. — Reuters/File ABU DHABI: Pakistan has emerged at the center of a global polio funding drive after international donors pledged $1.9 billion in Abu Dhabi to speed up eradication efforts, with Pakistan remaining one of only two countries where the virus is still endemic. Pakistan committed $154 million to strengthen nationwide vaccination campaigns, surveillance and emergency response. Pakistan’s Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal represented the country at the event, which was also attended by Bill Gates, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros
Why 40,000 Karachi families refused polio vaccine
Forty thousand Karachi families refused polio vaccines this year. In a city where the virus circulates in every district, these denials represent the gap between Pakistan’s impressive polio infrastructure and its inability to close the last mile of eradication. Pakistan has reduced polio cases by more than 99.6 percent since 1994—from 20,000 annual cases to just 30 this year. It has built one of the most extensive surveillance systems in the world: 127 environmental sampling sites, 12,500 reference sites and campaigns targeting 45 million children. Two of the world’s three strains of the polio virus have been eradicated. But Pakistan
October 22, 2025
Ending polio still possible, health officials say, as funding slashed by 30%
A nurse fills a syringe with a vaccine before giving an injection at a children’s clinic in Kiev, Ukraine, August 14, 2019. — Reuters Core operations in core countries will continue. Lower risk areas will experience reductions in support. Wild polio remains in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Polio eradication is still possible despite major funding cuts, global health officials said as they outlined how they would address the shortfall. The budget of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a partnership that includes the World Health Organization and the Gates Foundation, will be cut by 30 percent in 2026 and will have a
Pakistan polio toll in 2025 reaches 30 as new cases surface in KP
A female health worker administering polio falls on a child during the 7-day Pakistan Polio Eradication Program 2024 in Peshawar on September 9, 2024. — APP A twelve month old boy from Ghari Union Council was infected. The September surveillance identified 44 positive sewage samples. Sindh records the highest number of positive detections. A new case of wild poliomyelitis (WPV1) has been confirmed in Torghar district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, by the Regional Polio Eradication Reference Laboratory at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Islamabad, bringing the total number of polio cases in Pakistan in 2025 to 30. The virus was
The father who refuses the polio drops ends up getting vaccinated himself
SKARDU: Assistant Commissioner Skardu (AC) persuaded a father who had refused to administer polio drops to his five-year-old son and gave the drops to both the father and the child. According to the District Health Officer (DHO), around 38,000 children were vaccinated across the district as part of the campaign, which received remarkable cooperation from the local communities. However, along the way, a resident of Ghanche district initially refused to let his son be vaccinated. The AC intervened, convinced the man by taking the drops himself before administering them to the child. Officials said the gesture was meant to reassure
