Pakistan has confirmed three new cases of poliovirus, with two reported from the southwestern province of Balochistan and one from the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, according to the country’s polio eradication program. This brings the total number of polio cases in Pakistan to 55 for 2024, a concerning rise that has prompted officials to reassess their approach to combating the disease.
The newly reported cases were confirmed by the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health. Of the three new cases, two were from Zhob and Jaffarabad districts in Balochistan, while the third case was from Dera Ismail Khan in KP. DI Khan, one of the seven remaining polio-endemic districts in southern KP, has now reported six polio cases this year.
This increase in cases marks a worrying trend for Pakistan, which, along with neighboring Afghanistan, remains one of the last two polio-endemic countries in the world. The rise in infections has led health officials to review their strategy for eradicating the disease. So far in 2024, 26 cases have been reported from Balochistan, 14 from KP, 13 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
