Islamabad: The National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication (NEOC) has confirmed Pakistan's fourth polio case of the year, with the latest incident reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district.

According to a statement issued by the national polio programme, the affected child resides in the Nurar union council of Miryan tehsil. Health authorities noted that security-related access issues have prevented vaccination teams from reaching children in the area consistently since 2025.

Three of the four cases recorded this year have been detected in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Officials reported that security constraints in the region have led to children missing essential vaccinations, allowing wild poliovirus transmission to persist locally despite a broader nationwide decline.

The year's first case was confirmed in a four-year-old child from the Bello Union Council in Sujawal district, Sindh. The remaining two cases were reported in Bannu and North Waziristan.

Statistics from the polio programme indicate that Pakistan has reduced overall polio cases by 99.8 per cent since the early 1990s, down from an estimated 20,000 cases annually to 31 in 2025. Four cases have been registered so far in 2026.

Following the latest detection, the government-led Polio Eradication Initiative stressed the necessity of maintaining robust surveillance and immunization coverage across the country.

Pakistan has conducted three large-scale immunization drives so far this year. The next national door-to-door vaccination campaign is scheduled to run from 21 to 27 September, aiming to vaccinate nearly 31 million children, including those living in security-affected parts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Parents and caregivers have been urged to ensure all children receive the oral polio vaccine during the upcoming drive and future campaigns to prevent lifelong paralysis.