A fight unfinished: Pakistan’s polio eradication campaign falters amid rising cases and relentless threats
In a world that has largely moved on from polio, where most countries proudly carry the “polio-free” label, Pakistan, even in 2025, remains trapped in a cycle of resurgence, resistance, and risk.
The country’s decades-long campaign to eradicate the disease—once seen as a global success story in the making—has entered yet another turbulent chapter.
Despite billions in funding, countless rounds of door-to-door vaccination drives, and international pressure, the virus has not only survived in Pakistan—it is staging a dangerous comeback.
As of June 2025, Pakistan has reported dozens of new polio cases across its tribal belts and urban slums, a sharp uptick from previous years.
The recrudescence has dashed hopes of imminent eradication and rekindled fears of international travel restrictions and economic fallout.
It is not merely the virus that’s proving persistent, but the complex human, political, and ideological barriers that have dogged the campaign from its inception.
A crisis that should have been over
Polio, or poliomyelitis, was once a global scourge. Its elimination in most countries is counted among public health’s greatest triumphs.
Yet in Pakistan, one of only two countries where the disease remains endemic (the other being Afghanistan), the war against polio has dragged on far longer than anticipated.
In fact, Pakistan came close to wiping it out on several occasions, only for gains to be lost to logistical gaps, resistance from communities, and unrelenting violence against health workers.
In 2025, the stakes are higher than ever.
Health experts have described Pakistan’s resurgence of wild poliovirus as “deeply concerning,” with several of the new cases reported in children who had received partial or no immunisation due to missed rounds.
The virus continues to thrive in regions where government reach is weak, infrastructure is underdeveloped, and public mistrust is widespread.
Security threats: The unseen enemy
One of the most damning challenges facing Pakistan’s polio campaign is violence.
In 2025, health workers still operate under the shadow of targeted killings, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, where militant groups continue to view the polio programme as either a Western conspiracy or a pretext for espionage.
The security narrative took a grim turn in early May this year, when gunmen killed three polio workers in North Waziristan—marking the seventh attack of its kind in just five months.
Many of these killings go unreported in international media but reverberate loudly in communities already suspicious of government initiatives.
Even with police escorts, vaccinators often face threats, intimidation, and ambushes.
The result is a dangerous calculus where some teams avoid certain neighbourhoods altogether, leaving thousands of children vulnerable.
The Taliban and other extremist factions in the region continue to push misinformation, claiming the vaccine causes infertility or is part of a broader Western agenda.
Despite efforts by religious scholars and clerics to dispel such myths, deeply ingrained mistrust remains, particularly among conservative Pashtun populations.
Resistance at the grassroots
Beyond violence, the campaign is undermined by non-cooperation from the very communities it seeks to protect.
Vaccine hesitancy in Pakistan is not a fringe phenomenon—it is deeply embedded in cultural, religious, and political attitudes.
In some cases, families refuse vaccination as a form of protest against unrelated grievances such as water shortages, power cuts, or lack of schooling.
For many, the polio campaign has become a symbol of the state’s skewed priorities: millions of rupees for vaccines, but none for clean drinking water.
Health workers recount stories of doors slammed in their faces, fake immunisation records, and families hiding their children during vaccination days.
Social media has only amplified the problem. Conspiracy theories spread faster than fact-checking efforts, and videos falsely linking polio vaccines to paralysis or death go viral within hours.
Even in urban areas like Karachi and Lahore, where infrastructure is stronger, misinformation flourishes.
In the absence of a coherent communication strategy and consistent public health messaging, myths about vaccine safety persist, often overwhelming official narratives.
Fatigue, funding, and fracture
After more than 25 years of continuous vaccination drives, fatigue is setting in—not just among health workers and communities, but also among policymakers and donors.
The campaign has become a routine event, often met with indifference or cynicism.
International partners such as WHO, UNICEF, and the Gates Foundation continue to fund the initiative, but cracks are visible in coordination, oversight, and accountability.
In 2025, Pakistan’s public health system remains overstretched and underfunded.
Political instability, strikes, and bureaucratic red tape frequently disrupt basic immunisation programmes.
The polio programme, while high-profile, is not immune to these issues.
The disconnect between federal leadership and provincial implementation has widened, especially after decentralisation reforms that left health policy largely in the hands of provincial governments.
Meanwhile, frontline workers—many of them women—continue to receive meagre wages and work under dangerous conditions with little to no support.
Several have gone months without payment, while others have left the campaign altogether, citing harassment and fear for their lives.
Global eyes watching
The resurgence of polio in Pakistan is not just a national crisis—it is a global concern.
Health officials around the world worry that if the virus is not eliminated soon, it could spread to other countries, particularly those with weak health systems.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has repeatedly warned that complacency at this stage could undo decades of progress.
Already, some countries have reimposed travel restrictions, requiring Pakistani travellers to show proof of polio vaccination before entry.
For a nation already grappling with a fragile economy, such restrictions could have broader diplomatic and financial implications.
The failure to eradicate polio is also a reputational blow.
Pakistan has long insisted that it has the capability and will to eliminate the disease.
Yet every new case, every slain health worker, and every botched campaign fuels the perception that the country cannot secure even its most basic health goals.
A symbol of broader failings
Polio’s persistence in Pakistan is about more than just a virus.
It symbolises the failure of governance, the consequences of unchecked extremism, and the gap between the state and its people.
It reflects how misinformation, poverty, and marginalisation can conspire to thwart even the most well-funded public health efforts.
While the world moves forward—focusing on new pandemics, emerging health technologies, and digital health systems—Pakistan remains locked in a fight with a disease that should have been consigned to the past.
The story of polio here is a cautionary tale about what happens when science, policy, and public trust fall out of sync.
Pakistan
