PM Orders Polio Eradication Plan as Cases Reach Nine

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered a polio eradication plan within a week, after Pakistan recorded its ninth polio case of 2026. A seven-month-old child from Khyber district tested positive for poliovirus, the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) confirmed.

Chairing a review meeting in Islamabad on Thursday, the prime minister expressed concern over the latest cases and called for a renewed and more effective approach. Aaj News reported the meeting’s decisions on Thursday.

“Achieving a polio-free Pakistan is a major challenge, but our determination and resolve are far stronger than this challenge,” he said, stressing the need for close coordination among the provinces and all relevant stakeholders.

Ninth case reported in Khyber district

The child is from Union Council Mastak in Bara tehsil of Khyber district, the briefing said. The case is the third from Khyber district this year and the seventh from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has three cases each in Khyber and Bannu districts and one in North Waziristan. Sindh has two, one each in Karachi East and Sujawal.

The briefing noted that Punjab had not reported a new polio case since February 2025, while Balochistan had remained free of new cases during 2025 and 2026. Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan also remain polio-free.

The tally of nine cases is far below recent years. Pakistan reported 74 cases in 2024 and 31 in 2025, according to official figures. The concern now is concentration: seven of this year’s nine cases have come from one province, and all three Khyber district cases share the same source.

What the polio eradication plan must cover

PM Shehbaz directed the federal health minister, the minister of state, the health secretary and members of the anti-polio team to visit all four provinces and consult their respective chief ministers and chief secretaries. He instructed them to prepare a coordinated national action plan within a week, after consulting the provincial governments.

The prime minister also called for improved routine immunisation coverage, particularly in polio-affected and high-risk areas. He said the safety of vaccination workers and their uninterrupted access to children were among the government’s top priorities.

He praised frontline vaccination workers and law enforcement personnel for their efforts, and commended improved access to security-sensitive and hard-to-reach areas. Officials told the meeting that measures were being taken to strengthen the security of anti-polio teams and improve their access to southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The risks facing field teams were clear this week. A polio team supervisor was abducted in Jamrud, in the same district, during the current campaign, and recovery efforts are still under way. Security operations in the province continue alongside the health drive, as a civil-military huddle ordered a scale-up of intelligence-based operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while similar operations are under way in Balochistan.

Campaign under way in 97 districts

A nationwide vaccination campaign launched on November 2 aims to immunise more than 24 million children under the age of five in 97 selected districts. The drive is scheduled to continue until November 8.

Pakistan has conducted four large-scale polio vaccination campaigns so far in 2026, protecting more than 45 million children multiple times. Officials also highlighted a decline in poliovirus detection in environmental samples collected from Sindh this year.

Why cases keep coming from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Genetic analysis of the virus detected in all three cases from Khyber district linked them to strains circulating in Afghanistan, highlighting the continued threat of cross-border transmission. The meeting was informed that population movement from Afghanistan remained a major factor contributing to the spread of poliovirus in Pakistan.

Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only two countries where wild poliovirus transmission has never been interrupted. Frequent cross-border movement, inaccessible communities, security challenges and gaps in childhood vaccination continue to hamper eradication efforts.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik, Economic Affairs Minister Ahad Khan Cheema, Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, and the prime minister’s focal person on polio eradication, Ayesha Raza Farooq.

Frequently asked questions

How many polio cases has Pakistan reported in 2026?

Nine cases, the latest a seven-month-old child from Union Council Mastak in Bara tehsil of Khyber district.

Where are most of the cases coming from?

Seven of the nine cases are from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: three each in Khyber and Bannu districts and one in North Waziristan. Sindh has reported two cases.

What has the prime minister ordered?

Federal health officials and the anti-polio team must visit all four provinces, consult the chief ministers and chief secretaries, and prepare a coordinated national action plan within a week.

Is the vaccination campaign still running?

The November 2 to 8 campaign covers 97 districts and aims to vaccinate more than 24 million children under five.