Pakistan on Wednesday reported a new polio case in Tank, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, taking the previous year’s tally to 69, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said in a statement.

Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic, with the disease mostly affecting children under five, and sometimes causing lifelong paralysis. Despite global efforts to eradicate the virus, challenges such as security issues, vaccine hesitancy, and misinformation have slowed progress.

“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of the 69th wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) case of 2024 from the country,” the statement said.

It added that on January 7, the lab confirmed a case from Tank, making it the 5th case of 2024 from the district.

Pakistan has been responding to the resurgence of WPV1 since last year with 69 cases reported. Of these, 27 are from Balochistan, 21 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 19 from Sindh, and one each is from Punjab and Islamabad, respectively, the statement added.

Polio is a paralysing disease that has no cure. Multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five are essential to provide them with high immunity against this terrible disease, the statement continued.

The year’s first polio vaccination campaign is scheduled to be conducted nationwide from February 3 – 9, 2025. To keep children safe, it is critical for parents to welcome vaccinators among them and bring their children forward for vaccination.

Earlier in the week, it was reported that Afghanistan reported 25 cases of polio in the year 2024. Whereas, Pakistan has reported 68 cases of the crippling disease and the clock is still ticking as reports of the number of samples, collected last year, are yet to receive.

However, a senior official of the Polio Programme of Pakistan said in response that Pakistan has been following the policy of sharing the facts, and Pakistan’s reporting system is much better compared to Afghanistan, which means that there is a strong possibility that several cases might be underreported in Afghanistan.

The Pakistan Polio Programme conducts multiple mass vaccination drives in a year, bringing the vaccine to children at their doorsteps, while the Expanded Programme on Immunisation provides vaccinations against 12 childhood diseases free of charge at health facilities.

A sub-national Polio vaccination campaign was conducted across Punjab, Sindh, KP, AJK, GB, and Islamabad from December 16 to 22 vaccinating over 42 million children.