Islamabad, Pakistan July 27,2026:– World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Hanan Balkhy recently visited Pakistan with the Polio Oversight Board (POB) to reaffirm WHO’s support for intensifying the fight against paralytic polio during the next 6 months as a “critical” step towards further confining the virus and interrupting transmission, a WHO handout said.
Dr Balkhy praised Pakistan’s “strong leadership” in fighting the virus and underlined that ending polio in Pakistan and across the Region is now within reach if concerted efforts are sustained. Following a 99.8% reduction in polio cases over the last three decades, Pakistan has registered three cases so far in 2026, with transmission mainly restricted to southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“Discussions with national authorities and experts, together with the available evidence, show that Pakistan has a genuine opportunity to interrupt poliovirus transmission. We have the tools: proven vaccines, the best available science, and the extraordinary commitment of hundreds of thousands of frontline health workers, backed by steadfast Government leadership. But this opportunity will only be realized if we intensify our efforts over the next 6 to 12 months – a period that will be critical,” said Dr Balkhy.
“The goal is within reach and the cost of inaction – for Pakistan, the Region and the world – would far outweigh the investment needed to finish the job.”
Dr Balkhy was part of a high-level delegation led by the Chair of the POB and Rotary International PolioPlus Committee, Mike McGovern. The mission also included United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Asia Pacific Regional Director Sanjay Wijesekera, Senior advisor at the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) Dr Ziad Memish, Chief Executive Officer of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Dr Sania Nishtar, Gates Foundation Global Development President Dr Chris Elias, and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Polio Team Lead Dr Omotayo Bolu.
The delegation met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal, Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Ishaq Dar and Pakistan Army’s Engineer-in-Chief, Lieutenant General Kashif Nazir. Delegates also met with female frontline workers who are among more than 400,000 polio workers – 60% of whom are women – mobilized multiple times a year by the Government of Pakistan with support from WHO and partners.
“I commend Prime Minister Sharif and the Government of Pakistan for their strong leadership and the whole-of-government commitment to protecting every child from polio – not only in Pakistan, but also across the Region and the world. We know that ending polio will require sustained commitment at every level of government, together with the continued dedication of frontline health workers, communities and partners. This visit has strengthened my confidence that, by working together, Pakistan can seize this historic opportunity to interrupt wild poliovirus transmission,” said Dr Balkhy.
POB is the highest decision-making and oversight body of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), a global public-private partnership working with national governments to eradicate polio globally and protect every child from a highly infectious disease that can cause lifelong paralysis. Polio has no cure – but can be prevented through safe and effective vaccines. .
Before to visiting Pakistan, the delegation travelled to Afghanistan, which has reported seven polio cases so far this year. Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the last two countries in the world where wild poliovirus remains endemic.
During her visit, Dr Balkhy highlighted the importance of cross-border collaboration with Afghanistan and strengthening routine immunization to ensure sustainable interruption of poliovirus transmission. “As a single epidemiological block, Pakistan and Afghanistan cooperation is vital to interrupt transmission together. Closer collaboration between the polio eradication and routine immunization programmes is also essential to sustain interruption of transmission and ensure the virus never returns. No child in the Region – or the world – will be safe until every child is safe,” said Dr Balkhy.
Pakistan’s polio operations are guided by medical science and the largest and most sensitive polio surveillance network in the world, comprising over 12,500 acute flaccid paralysis reporting sites and 127 environmental surveillance sites supported by the WHO-accredited Regional Reference Polio Laboratory
