Pakistan has confirmed its 14th case of poliovirus this year, with the latest infection detected in a 19-month-old boy from North Waziristan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad.
The child’s diagnosis brings Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s total to eight confirmed cases in 2025, underscoring the province’s growing vulnerability to the highly infectious disease. Earlier this year, four cases were reported from Sindh, while Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan each reported one case.
This is the second case confirmed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa within a week, following the June 27 detection of polio in an 18-month-old child in Tank district’s Amakhel Union Council.
Despite aggressive national efforts to stamp out polio, Pakistan remains one of only two countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan, where the virus remains endemic. Obstacles such as vaccine hesitancy, misinformation, and security threats continue to hamper eradication efforts in vulnerable regions.
The Pakistani government has reaffirmed its commitment to eradicating the virus by the end of this year. So far in 2025, Pakistan has conducted three nationwide vaccination campaigns, in February, April, and May, targeting millions of children under the age of five.
Polio remains incurable and can lead to lifelong paralysis. The only effective protection is routine oral polio vaccination, administered multiple times during early childhood.
