Pakistan reports first poliovirus case of 2025

• DI Khan district reported 11 polio cases in 2024. 
• Balochistan remained hardest hit with 27 cases. 
• First vaccination campaign of 2025 to begin on Feb 3. 

Pakistan's National Emergency Operation Centre reported the country's first poliovirus case of 2025 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Dera Ismail Khan district on Wednesday.

The district of DI Khan reported 11 polio cases in 2024 while a total of 73 cases were confirmed throughout the country, the NEOC added. 

To tackle the worrying rise in polio cases, the first nationwide vaccination campaign of the year will commence on February 3. 

The NEOC further stated that polio teams will specifically target the affected regions of the country including DI Khan. 

In 2024, Balochistan was the hardest-hit province of Pakistan with 27 confirmed cases while KP and Sindh reported 22 cases each. 

Meanwhile, Islamabad and Punjab reported one poliovirus case during the previous year. 

To counter the resurgence, the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme, in collaboration with the Expanded Program on Immunisation (EPI), continues to conduct nationwide mass vaccination campaigns.

The EPI also provides immunisation services against 12 childhood diseases free of charge at health facilities across the country.

The health authorities have urged parents to ensure that all children under five receive the vaccine during the campaign.

Pakistan is one of the two polio-endemic countries in the world, along with Afghanistan, and the number of annual cases had significantly dropped in the country, until the recent spike.

Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme explains that polio is a "paralysing" disease with "no cure" and "the completion of the routine vaccination for all children under the age of five" provides children with "high immunity against this terrible disease".