ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday launched a subnational polio vaccination campaign aimed at reaching around 24 million children in 97 districts, according to the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC).

Polio is a highly contagious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis and, in some cases, death. It can be prevented through safe and effective polio vaccines.

Pakistan has reported eight wild poliovirus type 1 cases so far this year, including six in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and two in Sindh in the country’s south.

The NEOC confirmed the latest polio case in a 13-month-old girl in Bara tehsil of KP’s Khyber district. This was the second case reported from KP’s Khyber district this year.

“The case is a reminder of the importance of vaccinating every child,” the NEOC said, urging parents to ensure that all children under five receive the oral polio vaccine in the upcoming polio campaign on Nov. 2-8.

Pakistan’s polio campaigns have long been hampered by misinformation and vaccine refusals, as well as attacks by militant groups, who falsely claim polio vaccines are part of a Western plot to sterilize Muslim children or cause infertility.

In Sept., unidentified gunmen killed two police constables deployed to protect a polio vaccination team in Balochistan, a police official said. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to government data, Pakistan has reduced polio cases by 99.8 percent from an estimated 20,000 cases in the early 1990s to 31 last year.

The latest campaign will be the fifth large drive of 2026 – the third subnational – and will mobilize over 200,000 frontline polio workers.

“It will be implemented simultaneously in Pakistan and Afghanistan – the last two endemic countries in the world for wild poliovirus – and supported by strong cross-border coordination,” the NEOC said earlier.