ISLAMABAD: Pakistani health authorities will launch the first nationwide anti-polio campaign of the year tomorrow, Monday, to vaccinate over 45 million children against the disease, state media reported. 

Pakistan recorded a significant decline in polio cases last year compared to 2024, when the South Asian country reported an alarming 74 cases. In 2025, the number of polio cases in Pakistan dropped to 31. 

Authorities say the progress in anti-polio efforts reflects strengthened program implementation, enhanced surveillance and improved coordination between federal and provincial stakeholders. This year’s first anti-polio campaign will take place from Feb. 2-8. 

“A nationwide anti-polio campaign will begin from tomorrow,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported on Sunday. 

“During the campaign, 45 million children under five years of age will be vaccinated with anti-polio drops.”

Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only two countries worldwide where polio remains endemic. Both countries held several vaccination campaigns last year in a bid to eliminate the disease from the country. 

Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq said last week that around 400,000 trained polio workers will vaccinate children in the door-to-door campaign. 

Pakistani health officials have cited the deteriorating security situation in the country as a major obstacle in its bid to eliminate polio from the country. 

Polio workers and their security escorts have repeatedly been targeted in militant attacks, particularly in parts of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan provinces, complicating efforts to reach every child.

A gun attack targeting a polio vaccination team in Pakistan’s northwestern Bajaur district in December 2025 left one police constable and a civilian dead.

Natural disasters, including flooding, have also disrupted vaccination campaigns in recent years.