ISLAMABAD: A new confirmed polio case in Hyderabad has pushed Pakistan’s nationwide tal­ly to 27 and the number of cases in Sindh to seven so far this year, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said on Monday.

According to Regional Reference Laboratory’s official at NIH, the lab has confirmed a polio case in District Hyderabad, Sindh.

“With this detection, the total number of polio cases in Pakistan in 2025 has reached 27 — including 18 from Khyber Pakh­tun­kh­­wa, seven from Sin­dh, and one each from Pu­­njab and Gilgit-Baltistan,” he said.

Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world where polio remains en­d­emic, alongside Afgha­nis­tan. Despite decades of gl­­o­bal eradication efforts, the virus has continued to persist, fuelled by vaccine hes­itancy, misinformation and access constraints in areas affected by insecurity.

A nationwide sub-campaign in September rea­ch­­ed some 21 million child­r­­en under five across 88 dis­­tricts, according to NIH.

Another drive is set to begin on 13 October, targeting 45.5m children with the help of more than 400,000 frontline workers going door-to-door to ensure coverage.

The most recent case co­­mes just over a week after two infections were repor­ted in KP — one involving a 19monthold child in North Waziristan and the other in an 11monthold in Lakki Marwat.

Also, the Independent Monitoring Board on polio warned in its latest assessment that, after almost four decades and $22bn spent globally, eradication efforts have reached an “inflection point”.

The board said reliance on conventional tools now yields “diminishing retu­rns” and called for fresh thinking, as well as unambiguous national ownership, to finally dismantle what it described as the “glass mountain” of polio.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2025