ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday reported its second case of wild polio virus case this year, health authorities said, in a two-year-old girl in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries where the disease is still endemic. The highly infectious disease causes paralysis or even death. Children under five are the most vulnerable, but people can be fully protected with vaccines.
Spread through faeces and saliva, the virus has historically thrived in the blurred borderlands between the South Asian nations, where state infrastructure is weak.
“Today, the Pakistan National Polio Laboratory at the NIH (National Institute of Health), Islamabad, has confirmed the detection of Type-1 Wild Poliovirus from the stool specimen from a 24-month-old girl from district North Waziristan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa,” the National Emergency Operation Center (NEOC) said in a statement on Friday.
“The girl had an onset of paralysis on 14 April 2022.”
Pakistan reported its first polio case of the year on April 22, when a 15-month-old boy from Mir Ali area of the same district was found infected with the virus.
It was reported after a gap of more than a year.
To formally eradicate the disease, a nation must be polio-free for three consecutive years — but even 12 months is a long time in a country where vaccination teams are in the crosshairs of a simmering insurgency.
Since the Taliban takeover of neighboring Afghanistan, the Pakistan version of the movement has become emboldened and its fighters frequently target anti-polio teams.
Pakistan anti-polio drives have been running since 1994, with up to 260,000 vaccinators staging regular waves of regional inoculation campaigns.
But on the fringes of the country, the teams often face skepticism.
“In certain areas of Pakistan, it was considered as a Western conspiracy,” Shahzad Baig, a national polio eradication program official, said in January.
The theories ranged wildly: polio teams are spies, the vaccines cause infertility, or contain pig fat forbidden by Islam.
The spy theory gained currency with the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011, whose hideaway in Abbottabad was revealed to the United States — unwittingly or otherwise — by a vaccine program run by a Pakistani doctor.
“It’s a complex situation,” said Baig. “It’s socio-economical, it’s political.”
The porous border with Afghanistan — a strategic crutch for the Pakistani Taliban — can also keep polio circulating.
No longer polio-free, Pakistan reports second virus case this year
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No longer polio-free, Pakistan reports second virus case this year
- Pakistan, Afghanistan are only countries where polio is still endemic
- The highly infectious disease can cause paralysis or even death
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia discuss strengthening strategic partnership, regional security
- Pakistan Deputy PM meets Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed bin Abdulkarim Al-Khereiji in Jeddah
- Ishaq Dar attends OIC’s Council of Foreign Ministers meeting to discuss Israel’s recognition of Somaliland
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar met Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed Bin Abdulkarim Al-Khereiji on Sunday to discuss the strategic partnership between the two countries, reaffirming close cooperation for regional security and peace, the Pakistani foreign ministry said.
Dar, who is also Pakistan’s foreign minister, met Al-Khereiji on the sidelines of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s 22nd Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting in Jeddah. The CFM was organized to discuss Muslim states’ response to Israel’s recognition of Somaliland.
“Both sides discussed strengthening Pakistan–Saudi strategic partnership and reaffirmed close cooperation within the OIC for peace, stability and security in the region,” the Pakistani foreign ministry said in a statement.
Dar also met OIC Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha at the sidelines of the conference. The Pakistani minister highlighted Pakistan’s strong condemnation of Israel’s recognition of Somaliland and its unwavering support for the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Somalia, the foreign office said.
“DPM/FM also urged SG to step up his efforts for the realization of the right to self-determination of Kashmiri people,” the statement added.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy cordial ties that date back decades and include cooperation in several sectors such as defense, trade, economy, agriculture, livestock and minerals.
Saudi Arabia is the largest source of foreign remittances to Pakistan, with over two million Pakistani expats residing in the Kingdom.
The two countries also signed a landmark strategic partnership agreement in September 2025, according to which an act of aggression against one country will be seen as an attack on both.
