Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif launched on Sunday a nationwide seven-day anti-polio campaign for the year 2025 by administering polio drops to children under the age of five. It will begin on Monday (tomorrow) and will continue till February 9.

“The national polio vaccination drive will target millions of children in the country to save their future and health,” he said while addressing the launching ceremony in Islamabad. The prime minister reaffirmed his government’s determination to eliminate the polio disease from Pakistan.

He hoped that the teams would work round the clock to eradicate the disease and would reach the far flung areas and villages. “These teams would successfully meet the huge national responsibility by utilising their complete energies.”

The prime minister lamented that a total of 77 polio cases were reported in the country during the last year which he described as a “huge challenge, besides a setback.”

This year, only one case was reported, he said, and expressed the resolve to eradicate polio “at all costs.”

PM Shehbaz also expressed the hope that with international coordination and support, the crippling disease in the neighbouring brotherly country Afghanistan would end.

He appreciated all the international partners including WHO, UNICEF, Bill Gates Foundation and the brotherly country Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for their commitment and efforts to the government in its efforts to eliminate polio.

On the occasion, PM’s Coordinator on National Health Services Mukhtar Bharat said that they had highlighted the number of polio cases which were reported last year and did not hide it from the international community.

He said that a “positive outcome was being felt” with concerted efforts by all the quarters and only one case was reported this year.

PM’s Focal Person on Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq said that the polio vaccination was a public campaign in which all segments of society have to take part and urged the parents to coordinate and save their children from polio.

First anti-polio campaign of 2025 to be kick off in Balochistan

The first anti-polio campaign of the year would be kicked off in Balochistan on Monday (tomorrow) that would target over 2.66 million children across the province.

Coordinator of Emergency Operations Centre Balochistan Inamul Haq urged that everyone should play their role with renewed determination to “make 2025 as the year to eradicate polio virus form the country.”

“Over 2.66 million children will receive polio vaccination drops in the province,” Haq said.

Around 11,653 teams would participate in the campaign, including 9,329 mobile teams, 962 fixed sites and 585 transit points for the success of the polio vaccination drive to administer to children up to five years of age, he added.

Haq said that all arrangements have been “completed” for the campaign to vaccinate children by visiting door-to-door in even the most remote areas of Balochistan.

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The EOC coordinator said that strict security measures were in place to ensure the protection of vaccination teams participating in the anti-polio campaign in the province.

In 2024, he said that a total 73 cases of polio were reported in the country and 27 of which were in Balochistan. Polio cases were reported from Quetta, Chaman, Dera Bugti, Qila Abdullah, Jhal Magsi, Zhob, Killa Saifullah, Nushki, Loralai, Pishin, Kharan, Jaffarabad, and Chagai districts.

“The virus is still present in the environment, which has been detected in the environmental sample from various districts including Qila Abdullah, Zhob, and Chagai,” he said.

He said that despite the toughest weather conditions, polio workers have carried out their national duty with dedication and excellence.