The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that 15 confirmed cases of poliovirus have been recorded in Afghanistan since the beginning of the current calendar year. The organization said the poliovirus remains in circulation in Afghanistan and that monitoring of the disease’s spread is continuing.
According to the WHO report, 21 confirmed polio cases were recorded in Afghanistan during the previous year. With the addition of the newly reported cases, the total number of confirmed cases over the past two years has reached 36.
The WHO report stated that although no new confirmed polio cases were reported during the current week, 53 positive environmental samples of the virus have been detected in Afghanistan since the start of the year. Environmental samples are collected through wastewater testing and similar methods to monitor the circulation of the virus.
The organization also reported that the number of positive environmental samples of poliovirus in Afghanistan reached 94 last year. The figures indicate that the virus continues to circulate in parts of the country.
According to the report, Pakistan has recorded three confirmed polio cases since the beginning of this year, while the number of confirmed cases in the country reached 31 last year.
The World Health Organization emphasized that Afghanistan and Pakistan remain the only countries in the world where polio is still endemic, and that transmission of the virus has not been fully interrupted.
The report noted that a total of 161 positive environmental samples of poliovirus have been recorded globally since the beginning of this year, including 53 in Afghanistan and 108 in Pakistan. This compares with a total of 745 positive environmental samples recorded in 2025, of which 94 were detected in Afghanistan and 651 in Pakistan.
The report further stated that confirmed polio cases in Afghanistan have shown an upward trend in recent years. The increase followed a significant decline in infections in 2021, when only four confirmed cases were recorded, compared with 56 cases in 2020.
In recent years, door-to-door polio vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan have been halted, and vaccine delivery has shifted to mosques. Some public health experts believe this change could limit access to vaccination for certain children and negatively affect overall immunization coverage.
Writer:Salima Aryaei
