Islamabad: Pakistan has reported two new cases of wild poliovirus from southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, taking the total number of infections in 2026 to three, with health officials acknowledging that access constraints in militancy-affected areas continue to hinder vaccination efforts and sustain virus transmission.
The latest cases have been confirmed in a five-month-old girl from UC Garyom in North Waziristan and a 24-month-old child from UC Jani Khel in Bannu, according to officials familiar with the surveillance data.
Both cases were detected through the national poliovirus surveillance network and confirmed by the Regional Reference Laboratory at the National Institute of Health, Islamabad.
Officials said the two affected union councils have faced prolonged access challenges due to security concerns, limiting the ability of vaccination teams to conduct regular house-to-house immunisation campaigns.
As a result, children in these areas have either missed routine immunisation or supplementary vaccination rounds.
Data shows that the child in North Waziristan had not received any routine or campaign doses of oral or injectable polio vaccine due to inaccessibility, while the Bannu case had received limited doses but missed key components of full immunisation.
Both infections are linked to ongoing circulation of the virus in southern KP, where pockets of missed children continue to be reported.
Despite overall improvements in campaign quality at the national level, southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remains a key concern for health authorities. The region accounted for a significant share of cases last year and has already contributed two out of three cases reported so far in 2026.
Programme data reviewed by officials indicates that several union councils in North Waziristan have remained persistently inaccessible for months, with some areas out of reach for over two years. Household vaccination coverage in parts of the district has remained well below optimal levels, with a high proportion of children repeatedly missed during campaigns.
Bannu has shown relative improvement in recent months, with vaccination coverage rising significantly and the number of missed children declining. However, officials say gaps remain, particularly in areas that were previously inaccessible and only recently reached.
Across southern KP, vaccination coverage has improved overall, but disparities persist between districts. North Waziristan continues to record the lowest coverage and the highest proportion of missed children, while both North Waziristan and Bannu together account for the majority of missed and unvaccinated children in the region.
Health officials maintain that while Pakistan has made broader progress against polio, the virus is increasingly confined to limited geographic pockets where access, security and operational challenges intersect. These gaps, they say, allow the virus to survive and re-emerge.
The development comes as Pakistan prepares for the next nationwide anti-polio campaign scheduled later this month, targeting millions of children. Authorities say reaching high-risk and previously inaccessible areas will remain critical to interrupting virus transmission and preventing further cases.
Officials have reiterated that ensuring consistent access to all communities, particularly in security-compromised areas, is essential to achieving polio eradication, while urging local stakeholders to support vaccination efforts to protect children from lifelong disability.