Polio is once again spreading in Pakistan, where officials say more than 1 million children missed their vaccination doses last month, underscoring the challenges they face in eradicating one of the world’s most intractable diseases.

Polio cases are rising ahead of a new vaccination campaign in Pakistan, where violence targeting health workers and the police protecting them has hampered years of efforts toward making the country polio-free.

Polio has started to resurface in Pakistan as more than one million children failed to receive their vaccinations last month. Since the beginning of the year, the country has reported 39 new polio cases,

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries where polio remains endemic, according to the World Health Organization (WHO): world news

The rise in polio cases has widened an existing immunity gap that started during the COVID-19 pandemic. Polio, a highly infectious disease that mainly affects children under five, attacks the nervous system and can cause paralysis and death.

A nationwide polio vaccination campaign will start on October 25, aiming to immunize over 4.5 million children across Pakistan.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the world’s last two countries where polio remains endemic. “This should be a wake-up call for all parents and communities,” Ayesha Raza Farooq,