24 million children, 97 districts, one week: Pakistan's polio teams fan out for a giant new push

For seven days starting 2 November, more than 200,000 frontline health workers are fanning out across Pakistan with a single goal: a polio vaccine dose for around 24 million children under five, in 97 districts. The provincial maths shows the scale — Sindh aims to reach 6.8 million children in 20 districts, Punjab about 9.3 million in 13, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa more than 4.8 million in 27, and Balochistan over 2.2 million in 31 districts with 8,888 teams, in a province that has recorded no polio case since November 2024. Pakistan has already run four large campaigns this year protecting more than 45 million children multiple times. Polio is preventable only by vaccination — and every round like this one is the eradication endgame being played, district by district, door by door.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: institutional program