Pakistan has confirmed its eighth polio case of 2026 after a 13-month-old girl from Khyber district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa tested positive for the wild poliovirus, the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) said. It is the latest polio case Pakistan has recorded this year, and comes as a fresh vaccination campaign begins across 97 districts.
According to the NEOC, the child belongs to Union Council Janbaz-B in Tehsil Bara of Khyber district. It is the second polio case reported from Khyber district this year and the sixth from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Polio Case Pakistan Tally in 2026
| Year | Total cases |
|---|---|
| 2026 (so far) | 8 (6 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 2 in Sindh) |
| 2025 | 31 |
Of this year’s eight cases, six have come from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and two from Sindh. Health officials say overall wild poliovirus transmission in the country has fallen this year compared with 2025, but positive environmental samples from the Peshawar block, which covers Peshawar and Khyber districts, show the virus is still circulating in the area.
Polio Case Pakistan: Investigation and Response
The Pakistan Polio Eradication Initiative has launched an investigation into the new case. It is assessing further steps such as targeted vaccination in the affected area and strengthening routine immunisation, so that more children receive all their scheduled doses.
Targeted campaigns in high-risk areas, including the Peshawar block, have already used both oral and injectable polio vaccines this year. Four large-scale campaigns have been held in 2026, reaching more than 45 million children, some of them several times. In the September subnational campaign alone, more than 29.3 million children were vaccinated across the country.
Vaccination Drive From November 2 to 8
A subnational polio vaccination campaign is running from November 2 to 8 in 97 selected districts, including Khyber. Vaccination teams aim to give oral polio drops to nearly 24 million children under the age of five during the week. Health officials say reaching every child is the best way to prevent the next polio case Pakistan could record.
What Parents Should Know About Polio
- Polio is highly contagious, has no cure and can cause lifelong paralysis or death.
- It can be prevented through vaccination, which is why every child under five should get drops in every campaign, even if they were vaccinated before.
- Parents should also complete their child’s routine immunisation schedule at the nearest health centre.
- Teams visit homes during the campaign; families who are missed can contact local health facilities.
The programme has also asked communities, religious leaders and the media to support the campaign and counter misinformation about vaccines, calling polio eradication a collective responsibility.
How Polio Spreads
Poliovirus spreads mainly through contaminated water and food and through contact with an infected person’s faeces, which is why it is often found in sewage samples before cases appear. It mostly affects children under five. Most infected children show no symptoms but can still pass the virus on, so the only reliable protection is repeated vaccination.
Earlier this year, cases were also reported from Bannu and Khyber in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including a seven-year-old boy from Khyber who became the sixth case of 2026. This latest polio case Pakistan has reported shows the virus is still circulating in the same high-risk areas.
Long Road to a Polio-Free Pakistan
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last two countries where wild poliovirus is still endemic. According to the programme, polio cases in Pakistan have fallen by 99.8 per cent from an estimated 20,000 a year in the early 1990s. Each new polio case Pakistan records, however, shows that children who miss vaccination remain at risk, especially in areas where the virus keeps showing up in sewage samples.
Health officials say keeping campaign coverage high in the remaining weeks of the year will be key to further cutting transmission before the next high season.
For official updates, visit the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme website.
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