Pakistan should remain under travel restrictions until at least July 2025, World Health Organization (WHO) officials have said, due to an ongoing polio outbreak classed as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
The body’s Emergency Committee took the decision after a review of polio’s global spread and the situation in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, including governmental efforts there to contain the virus.
Between 2023 and 2024 there was a 12-fold rise in reported paralytic cases in Pakistan, where new districts are being affected by the wild poliovirus and nearly 630 polio-positive environmental samples have been reported in 2025 so far, with six confirmed cases, (versus 74 cases in 2024).
Areas at heightened risk
While the WHO notes the continued implementation of “an intensive and mostly synchronized campaign schedule focusing on improved vaccination coverage,” the provinces of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh, are still a concern.
In Pakistan,women play a critical role in delivering vaccines to eradicate diseases like polio,raising awareness in communities & ensuring no child is left behind. Rozina Jerruck,a vaccinator in Thatta,Sindh, is a healthcare hero. Watch her story. #IWD2025 @gavi @UNinPak @WHOEMRO pic.twitter.com/iofpO5yHOS
— WHO Pakistan (@WHOPakistan) March 7, 2025
In addition, areas around historical reservoirs are seeing a resurgence and Karachi, Peshawar, and Quetta are now hotbeds of poliovirus type 1 (WPV1), which continues to spread in central parts of Pakistan and southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The most intense transmission is taking place in the “southern cross-border epidemiological corridor, encompassing Quetta Block (Pakistan) and the South Region (Afghanistan)”, as well as the “epidemiologically critical South KP and Central Pakistan blocks of Pakistan,” the WHO says.
How can the problem be tackled?
Part of the issue is a failure of house-to-house vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan during the second half of 2024. Site-to-site campaigns are “usually not able to reach all the children, especially those of younger age and girls, which may lead to a further upsurge of WPV1 with geographical spread in Afghanistan and beyond,” the WHO notes – a situation worsened amid a movement of displaced persons and refugees.
Every drop counts. Every child matters.
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) April 6, 2025
Meet the polio vaccinators of #Afghanistan — dedicated health workers working tirelessly to stop the virus and protect children today and for generations to come.
This #WorldHealthWorkerWeek, we celebrate their commitment and thank them… pic.twitter.com/gPO2T6KfwC
Tackling the problem requires improved vaccination efforts at Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossings, the WHO said, calling for enhanced bilateral cooperation and simultaneous anti-polio campaigns in both countries – which are, globally, almost the only two where the virus is not yet controlled. Other clusters of strains exist in Nigeria and the Horn of Africa, and a large pool of unimmunised children in Northern Yemen are in jeopardy.
What do the travel restrictions mean?
States under the WHO’s so-called “Temporary Recommendations” are called on to declare polio a national public health emergency and implement all required measures to eradicate it.
Among the actions nations such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mozambique, DR Congo, French Guiana and Guinea should take, all residents and visitors should receive a polio vaccine between four weeks and 12 months ahead of international travel, and those lacking proof of it should be refused travel from all points of departure, whether by road, sea, or air.
