By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s health authorities warned of a persistent polio threat on Tuesday after detecting the virus in 42 out of 127 sewage samples from 87 districts, signalling ongoing transmission in the South Asian nation, one of only two countries where the crippling disease remains endemic.
The samples, tested at the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at Islamabad’s National Institute of Health, revealed poliovirus in one sample from Balochistan, seven from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 12 from Punjab, 19 from Sindh, and three from the capital, Islamabad.
Of the total, 75 samples tested negative, while 10 others from KP, Punjab, Islamabad, Azad Kashmir, and Gilgit Baltistan were still under analysis, the country’s polio eradication program reported. “While the overall trend shows a decline in positive detections, reflecting the impact of high-quality campaigns, the virus continues to circulate in certain areas,” the polio program said in a statement.
Pakistan has recorded 19 polio cases in 2025, with 12 in KP, a province long identified as a high-risk zone due to insecurity, vaccine hesitancy, and operational difficulties. The country’s fight against polio has seen dramatic progress, with cases dropping from around 20,000 annually in the early 1990s to a low of one in 2021. But a sharp resurgence in 2024, with 74 cases compared to six in 2023, has raised alarm about setbacks in eradication efforts.
Over the past year, Pakistan’s polio program has conducted six high-quality vaccination campaigns, four of them nationwide, each targeting over 45 million children under five. Protection requires repeated oral polio vaccine doses during campaigns and completion of all essential immunizations.
The next sub-national campaign, set for September 1-7, 2025, aims to vaccinate 28 million children across 91 districts in all provinces and regions. Efforts to eradicate polio face deep-rooted challenges.
Misinformation and resistance from some religious hard-liners, who claim vaccines are a Western conspiracy to sterilise Muslim children or a cover for espionage, have fuelled vaccine hesitancy. Militant attacks on vaccination teams and their security escorts, particularly in KP and Balochistan, have further hindered progress, putting both health workers and children at risk.
“Polio eradication is a collective responsibility,” the polio program stressed. “While frontline workers deliver life-saving vaccines, parents, caregivers, and communities must ensure every child receives every dose, support vaccination teams, counter misinformation, and encourage timely immunization.”
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