The Prime Minister reaffirms the commitment to eradicate polio as cases fall sharply by 2026

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday confirmed the government’s decision to completely eradicate polio from Pakistan, noting encouraging progress as only one case has been reported so far in 2026.

Chairing a high-level meeting on polio eradication at the Prime Minister’s House, the Prime Minister appreciated the tireless efforts of anti-polio teams working across the country and reiterated that elimination of the disease remains a national priority.

The Prime Minister emphasized that continued coordination between federal and provincial authorities, frontline workers and partner organizations would continue to be critical to achieving the goal of a polio-free Pakistan.

During the briefing, the meeting participants were informed that only a single case of polio had been reported this year from Sujawal district, compared to 74 cases in 2024 and 31 cases in 2025, reflecting a significant downward trend.

No cases have been reported so far in 2026 from Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan or Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The officials further informed the meeting members that the number of polio-affected districts decreased from 67 in the first quarter of 2025 to 23 in the first quarter of 2026. National household coverage under anti-polio campaigns remained consistently high at 98%.

Participants were told that improved access and increased vaccination efforts in the southern districts of KP had significantly reduced the number of children missing polio drops. A significant decrease in local transmission of poliovirus was also recorded in the Quetta block.

Read more: Prolonged threat of polio

In Karachi, encouraging environmental monitoring results showed that poliovirus was not detected in 10 out of 12 environmental samples collected in March. Similarly, no polio cases have been reported in Dera Ismail Khan district since September 2025, while the number of high-risk union councils in Bannu dropped sharply from 62 to just six.

Members were also informed that a strategy was being finalized to integrate the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) with the Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) at the federal and provincial levels.

There were also efforts to link certain interventions of Benazir’s income support program with anti-polio measures to further strengthen coverage.

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar, Minister for National Health Services Mustafa Kamal, Minister of State for National Health Services Malik Mukhtar Ahmad Bharath, Minister of State for Finance and Railways Bilal Azhar Kayani, and Prime Minister’s Focal Point for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq, along with senior officials, attended the meeting.

Despite significant progress in recent years, Pakistan remains one of the few countries in the world where polio still paralyzes children, with health officials warning that continued vigilance and public cooperation are essential to stop transmission.