It follows the confirmation of 30 polio cases so far this year, a sharp improvement on last year’s toll but still a reminder that transmission persists.

More than 400,000 frontline vaccinators are moving door to door, supported by thousands of police officers deployed amid intelligence warnings of possible militant attacks. Vaccination teams have repeatedly been targeted by extremists who claim, without evidence, that polio campaigns are a Western plot.

Health Minister Mustafa Kamal urged families to cooperate with vaccination teams, warning that complacency could reverse gains. Each new infection, he said, risks condemning a child to lifelong paralysis while keeping communities vulnerable to wider outbreaks.

Afghanistan is the only other country where polio remains endemic. Officials said synchronised drives on both sides of the border are essential to interrupt cross-border transmission, which has historically undermined national progress.

Despite the latest cases, health authorities pointed to a dramatic long-term decline. Pakistan has reduced polio incidence by more than 99 per cent since the 1990s, cutting tens of thousands of annual cases to a few dozen. Two of the three strains of wild poliovirus once circulating in the country have already been eliminated.

That progress was underscored at a recent World Health Organization and Aga Khan University forum in Karachi, where international and national experts concluded that eradication in Pakistan is scientifically achievable. 

Pakistan’s programme is often cited as one of the most extensive public health operations in the world, with a dense network of emergency operation centres and one of the most sensitive surveillance systems globally. 

International advisers said the remaining challenge is not the effectiveness of the vaccine but reaching every last child, particularly in insecure or hard-to-access areas.

Officials described the current campaign as part of the “last mile” — the most difficult phase of eradication, when case numbers are low but the risk of resurgence is high. 

According to the National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA), the government will gradually increase reimbursement levels for prenatal check-ups while ensuring that the basic costs of delivery are fully covered nationwide.

Zhang Ke, party secretary and director of the NHSA, said the goal is to achieve “basically zero” personal payments for childbirth expenses that fall within the medical insurance catalogue, starting next year. 

The aim is that insured women will not need to pay for standard inpatient delivery services within policy limits. 

Seven provincial-level areas, including Jilin, Jiangsu and Shandong, have already implemented full reimbursement for in-hospital childbirth medical costs covered by policy , effectively removing personal financial burdens for standard deliveries.

Officials stressed that the commitment applies to basic medical services. Expenses incurred at premium-priced hospitals, or for drugs and medical materials outside the insurance catalogue, will remain the responsibility of individuals.

The NHSA also plans to expand maternity insurance coverage to include flexible workers, migrant workers and people in new forms of employment, reflecting changes in China’s labour market and employment patterns, according to Xinhua.

At present, China’s maternity insurance covers around 255 million people. Authorities view broader eligibility as a key lever to support family formation, particularly among younger urban workers who often lack stable employer-based benefits.

Zhang said the insurance system will be adjusted to align more closely with the country’s population development strategy, including the inclusion of eligible labour analgesia services in insurance payments and the continued promotion of full reimbursement for policy-covered maternity costs.

Beyond childbirth, the government is also advancing reforms to medical insurance payment mechanisms and long-term care insurance, while encouraging commercial insurers to develop supplementary products, according to Xinhua.

The measures come as China grapples with a shrinking and ageing population, with policymakers increasingly turning to fiscal and social policy tools to lower the cost of having children and stabilise long-term demographic trends.

In a recent study published in Epilepsia, 17 children were tested with the tool; 12 underwent surgery to remove lesions and 11 are now seizure-free. Experts say the advance could transform treatment for the roughly one in 200 children living with epilepsy.

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