ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s government said Wednesday it had “declared war on polio,” after a damning international report slammed the country’s campaign to tackle the virus as a “disaster.”

Cases of the crippling disease have soared to a 14-year high in Pakistan this year, with 235 confirmed infections — more than double the total for the whole of 2013. Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world where polio remains endemic but years of efforts to stamp it out have been badly hit by opposition from militants and attacks on immunization teams. The problem is concentrated in the northwest, where Taleban militants banned vaccination in North and South Waziristan tribal areas on the Afghan border.

Musadik Malik, an aide to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, said the government was launching a new drive against polio focused on “outcomes.”

“The prime minister has declared war on polio. The PM believes every child is his and no child will be left behind,” he told reporters.