ISLAMABAD: A seven-month-old child in Khyber district has tested positive for polio, bringing Pakistan’s total to nine cases so far this year, health officials said.
The child is from Union Council Mastak in Bara tehsil. The case is the third reported in Khyber district and the seventh in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Sindh has reported two cases.
Genetic testing found that poliovirus from all three cases recorded in Khyber district this year is related to strains circulating in Afghanistan. Officials say the findings underline the risk of transmission across the border, where frequent movement of people, hard-to-reach communities, security concerns and gaps in vaccination complicate eradication efforts.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries where wild poliovirus transmission has not been stopped. The World Health Organisation treats the two countries as one epidemiological zone, warning that transmission in either can put children in both at risk.
Cross-border spread is not the only concern. Experts point to ongoing local transmission, children missed during vaccination drives and low immunity in some communities. In Afghanistan, restrictions on house-to-house campaigns have led to vaccination at fixed sites in some areas, potentially leaving children in remote communities without protection.
In Pakistan, poliovirus has also been detected in sewage samples from the Peshawar surveillance block, which includes Peshawar and Khyber districts.
The country recorded 74 cases in 2024 and 31 in 2025. While the nine cases reported so far in 2026 represent a decline, officials say detections in children and sewage show that the virus remains in circulation.
A nationwide vaccination drive is being held from November 2 to 8, with about 24 million children under five targeted across 97 districts. Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal has urged parents to have every eligible child vaccinated, even if the child has received doses before.
Health authorities say repeated vaccination, stronger routine immunisation and closer coordination with Afghanistan will be essential to reach missed children and halt transmission. Until the virus is stopped in both countries, children on either side of the border remain at risk of a preventable disease that can cause permanent paralysis.
