ADاشتہار / AdvertisementGoogle Ad
Half of Pakistan’s Polio Cases Linked to AfghanistanHealth
Health officials say 40 to 50 per cent of polio cases detected in Pakistan over the past two months were genetically linked to Afghanistan, where 50 cases have been reported this year against nine in Pakistan.
Share:
The spread of poliovirus from Afghanistan into Pakistan has raised fresh concerns among health authorities, with officials warning that cross-border transmission is keeping the virus in circulation in Pakistan.
According to health authorities, between 40 and 50 per cent of the polio cases reported in Pakistan over the past two months have been genetically linked to Afghanistan. The Pakistan Polio Eradication Initiative said the share of Afghan-linked detections stood at about 50 per cent in September and 40 per cent in October.
ADاشتہار / AdvertisementGoogle Ad
Afghanistan has reported 50 polio cases this year, against nine in Pakistan. The World Health Organization describes the two countries as a single epidemiological block, meaning transmission in one country puts the other at risk. Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only two countries in the world where wild poliovirus transmission has never been interrupted.
Pakistan’s ninth case of 2026 was confirmed this week in a seven-month-old boy from the Bara tehsil of Khyber district. Genetic testing showed the virus was linked to strains circulating in Afghanistan. All three cases reported from Khyber district this year have the same Afghan link.
Of Pakistan’s nine cases this year, seven are from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — three each from Khyber and Bannu districts and one from North Waziristan — while two are from Sindh, in Karachi East and Sujawal. Afghanistan’s cases are spread across 12 provinces, with Hilmand reporting 12, Kandahar 11 and Nangarhar 10.
Officials have identified the return of deported Afghan nationals through illegal crossing points as a major risk factor. They say large numbers of people are returning through sporadic crossing points in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and moving across the country, making undocumented movement one of the biggest concerns for the eradication effort.
Health officials also revealed that poliovirus originating in Afghanistan has been detected in 29 sewage samples collected across Pakistan, including in Karachi, Jamshoro, Rawalpindi and Multan. The findings indicate the virus continues to circulate and highlight the challenges facing vaccination and surveillance programmes.
Pakistan’s figures show steady progress overall. Cases fell from 74 in 2024 to 31 in 2025 and nine so far this year, and the country has cut polio cases by 99.8 per cent from an estimated 20,000 a year in the early 1990s. A nationwide vaccination drive is under way from November 2 to 8, targeting about 24 million children under five across 97 districts, and is being run at the same time in both countries.
Related Coverage
