Polio drive misses target for 935,000 children in merged districts

Security concerns, population displacement hinder vaccination campaign in 2025

The polio vaccination campaign in Pakistan’s merged districts was affected by security concerns and population displacement, officials said. More than 935,000 children under five were targeted for vaccination in 2025, but authorities said full coverage could not be achieved.

Officials said thousands of families from North and South Waziristan, Bajaur and other merged districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have migrated to different parts of the country, which has made monitoring and vaccination efforts more difficult.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 19 polio cases were reported among children in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in 2025. These included four cases each in North Waziristan, Lakki Marwat and Tank; one each in Dera Ismail Khan and Lower Kohistan; two in Torghar; and three in Bannu.

Officials said staffing and operational levels for WHO and UNICEF programmes in the merged districts were reduced last year, while WHO funding was also curtailed, which they said affected campaign coverage.

Read: Pakistan built a world-class Polio system. Then 40,000 Karachi families said no

Health authorities warned that without coordinated vaccination during phases of displacement and resettlement, children in these areas remain at heightened risk.

In Sindh, officials said more than 12,000 children under five were recorded as missed during the final polio campaign of 2025 in Hyderabad and adjoining areas. Most refusals were reported in Cantonment localities and municipal towns including Hussainabad, Preetabad, Qasimabad and Tando Jam, with absent households and parental refusals cited as key reasons.

According to campaign data, the final nationwide anti-polio drive of 2025 vaccinated more than 44.6 million children across Pakistan. Punjab reported 22.9 million children vaccinated, followed by Sindh with 10.6 million, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with 7.15 million and Balochistan with 2.58 million.

Officials said coverage in Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir also contributed to the national tally. They added that challenges in the merged districts reflected localised disruptions within specific high-risk areas.