ISLAMABAD (Kashmir English): Sindh has reported the first polio case of 2026.
Pakistan’s National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication (NEOC) has confirmed the first wild polio case of this year in a four-year-old child from Bello Union Council, Sujawal district, Sindh.
The case reported through the polio surveillance network was confirmed by the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad.
The Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) has been analysing the best response to tackle and prevent further transmission of the virus.
Eradicating the global public threat of polio in Pakistan and worldwide is within reach, and the PEI continues to intensify its efforts to leave no child behind.
Since 1994, Pakistan reduced polio cases by 99.8% – from approximately 20,000 cases in the early 1990s to 31 in 2025.
In the current year, Pakistan has already implemented a nationwide polio campaign that protected over 45 million children, while the next round of the national campaign is planned in April.
Last year’s anti-polio campaigns
Last year, Pakistan carried out five countrywide campaigns, in addition to targeted rounds of oral and injectable polio vaccination and integrated activities with the national routine immunisation programme.
Though the overall trends show a decline in poliovirus detections compared to 2024, virus circulation persists in certain high-risk areas, including districts of Sindh and southern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Polio is a highly contagious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis and death. However, it can be prevented by using vaccines, which are effective and have been safely used in 195 countries, including all Muslim countries.
