PESHAWAR: The Technical Advisory Group on Polio Eradication, an independent group of experts, has appreciated health workers for vaccinating children in high-risk areas amid calls for intensifying efforts on the three critical hotspots, including southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Officials associated with the polio eradication initiative told Dawn that the TAG had stressed the need for special vaccination attention on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s southern region, Karachi and southern Afghan region.

Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan are the two last polio endemic countries in the world that have recorded six and three cases respectively this year.

Officials said that encouraging progress had been witnessed in Afghanistan’s eastern region as well as Peshawar and Quetta where high-quality vaccination campaigns had helped suppress local virus circulation. Also, key priorities and milestones in both countries have been identified, urging them to continue to work together to interrupt the remaining chains of wild poliovirus transmission.

Appreciates health workers for vaccinating children in high-risk areas

They said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had always remained in the spotlight regarding polio cases and the current year was no exception as it had recorded two, one each in militancy-hit South Waziristan and Bannu of the total three countrywide cases.

The officials said children continued to get infected in southern districts for being unvaccinated.

They said of the countrywide 31 polio cases recorded in 2025, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa accounted for 20, mostly from southern districts, including five in North Waziristan, four each in Tank and Lakki Marwat, three in Bannu, two in Torghar and one in Dera Ismail Khan due to non-vaccination of the children.

The officials said that TAG had noted that the global eradication effort had entered a decisive phase, with important gains achieved over the past year and extensive operational efforts under way across both countries, but continued urgency required to stop the remaining transmission.

They said declines in cases and environmental detections should not be interpreted as a signal that the job is done and sustained programme intensity and high-quality implementation will be essential to interrupt transmission and secure lasting success.

The officials said that compared with the same period in 2025, the geographical spread of wild poliovirus has narrowed and transmission has become increasingly concentrated in a small number of high-risk areas, reflecting intensified vaccination efforts and strengthened programme implementation and commended the continued commitment of governments in both countries, to protect children from polio.

The TAG report paid tribute to front line polio workers as their efforts remain at the heart of the anti-polio eradication initiative. However, it warned that wild poliovirus continued to circulate in several high-risk areas that remained the main sources of transmission.

Those areas remain the principal reservoirs of wild poliovirus transmission and sources of onward spread, according to it.

Officials said population movement, insecurity, misinformation and operational challenges continued to complicate efforts to consistently reach every child with life-saving vaccines.

They said in southern parts of KP, Pakistan’s longest-standing reservoir of transmission, the TAG had recognised substantial efforts to improve access and campaign implementation. However, it stressed that continued operational and access challenges highlight the need for stronger community engagement, more reliable access to children and improved monitoring systems.

The TAG urged the programme to strengthen analysis of campaign quality, surveillance and community engagement activities to better understand what driving progress is and where gaps remain in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

It recommended that all union councils achieve and sustain consistently high performance, with high-level advocacy focused on ensuring reliable access to all children during upcoming campaigns.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2026