World Polio Day and Pakistan’s eradication push
World Polio Day is being observed to renew the global pledge to wipe out poliovirus and to stress vaccination, as Pakistan keeps working to stop the disease after reporting seven wild polio cases so far in 2026. Health authorities say the day is meant to underline steady immunisation drives, disease surveillance and community trust so every child gets protected.
Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only countries where wild poliovirus is still endemic. Officials say Pakistan’s caseload has fallen by about 99.8 per cent since 1994, when an estimated 20,000 cases occurred each year. Of the seven cases listed for 2026 so far, five were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa—including four in southern districts—and two in Sindh. A separate account covering the period up to mid-September put the national total at four cases for 2026, with three from Bannu division; health officials still warn that fewer cases must not breed complacency.
Events in Peshawar and Tando Adam
In Peshawar, the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, working with the Institute of Public Health and Social Sciences at Khyber Medical University, held a World Polio Day programme jointly chaired by Secretary Health KP Matiullah Khan and KMU Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr Abdul Jalil. Provincial health staff, EOC teams, frontline workers, students and partners including UNICEF, WHO, the NSTOP programme, Rotary International, the Gates Foundation and the Pakistan Pediatric Association took part. The secretary said the day is a chance to review progress, face remaining gaps and protect every child from poliovirus, and he praised field workers’ resilience. UNICEF’s chief of field office in Peshawar, Radoslaw Rzehak, said UNICEF would keep supporting quality campaigns, community engagement and efforts against misinformation.
In Tando Adam, an awareness rally left the Taluka Hospital auditorium and ended at the main gate, led by District Health Officer Dr Muhammad Farooq Arain and Assistant Commissioner Hunain Tariq Shahani. Doctors, paramedics and other health staff joined. Officials thanked polio workers who still go door to door in heat, rain and hard terrain to give drops to children under five, and said more than 1,500 teams cover the district in each campaign—homes, remote areas, railway stations, transit points and hospitals. They said no new positive case had been reported in the district from 2024 through October 2026, and asked parents to cooperate or take children to the nearest vaccination centre if a team cannot reach them.
Vaccination campaigns and what still stands in the way
The Pakistan Polio Eradication Initiative works with federal and provincial authorities and partners through campaigns, environmental checks and efforts to find children who missed routine shots. Pakistan has run two nationwide and two sub-national rounds in 2026, with extra focus in Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar. Each nationwide campaign targets roughly 45 million children under five, backed by more than 400,000 frontline workers. The next sub-national drive is set for 2–8 November in 97 selected districts, aiming to reach more than 23.9 million children under five.
Polio is a highly infectious virus that mainly hits children under five and can leave irreversible paralysis within hours. In Nowshera, 70-year-old Jamsheed Ali said his son Abid was left with both legs paralysed after polio at age three in village Dheri Ishaq; he had skipped vaccination because of rumours. "I did not vaccinate him," he said. "We believed the rumours and misinformation about the polio vaccine." He now urges other parents not to wait. Participants at the Peshawar event likewise stressed listening to parents, answering questions with clear facts and involving elders, religious scholars and health workers so trust can grow.
Timeline: what has happened so far
- 1988: The World Health Assembly backed a global eradication goal, leading to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative; wild cases later fell by more than 99 per cent from an estimated 350,000 a year in over 125 endemic countries.
- 1994 onward: Pakistan’s annual burden is described as having fallen about 99.8 per cent from an estimated 20,000 cases a year.
- 2024–2025: Nationwide wild poliovirus cases were reported at 74 in 2024 and 31 in 2025.
- 2026 (to date): Two nationwide and two sub-national campaigns have been held; national case counts cited for the year so far differ between seven (five in KP, two in Sindh) and four as of mid-September.
- 24 October 2026: Awareness and commitment events were held, including in Peshawar and Tando Adam.
- 2–8 November 2026: A sub-national campaign is scheduled in 97 districts for more than 23.9 million children under five.
Aasan alfaaz mein
World Polio Day par Pakistan mein polio khatam karne ki batein aur ralliyan ho rahi hain. Abhi bhi kuch bachon mein yeh bimari mil rahi hai, is liye har campaign mein paanch saal se chhote bachon ko drops dena zaroori hai. Agli badi vaccination muhim November mein 97 districts mein hone wali hai. Ghalat afwahon par mat jaain—vaccine bachon ko polio ki maqooli sehm se bachati hai.
