LAHORE:Polio tried to confine their lives to disability and dependence. Instead, it forged resilience. Decades after the virus altered their childhoods, Sadia Suleman and Uzma Hamza stand at the heart of Pakistan’s fight to eradicate polio—walking symbols of both the cost of failure and the power of prevention.
As Punjab prepares for the fifth and final National Immunisation Days (NIDs) of 2025, beginning from today (Monday), their stories echo the urgency of a campaign that aims to protect millions of children from a disease that still threatens to cripple futures.
As frontline health workers in Lahore, they have turned personal tragedy into public service, dedicating their lives to immunising children against poliovirus and challenging the myths that continue to keep Pakistan among the world’s last polio-endemic countries.
For Sadia Suleman, now 35, the virus struck when she was just five years old in 1992–93. Growing up in an area with open sewerage in Lahore Cantt, she recalls falling ill after playing in the streets. ‘My mother bathed me and soon after I developed a severe fever that lasted nearly three months,’ she said. The virus attacked both her legs, permanently damaging her right one. Today, she walks with the help of crutches.
Despite the physical challenges, Sadia pursued a career in healthcare and now serves as a Lady Health Technician at Ghaziabad General Hospital. Her motivation is deeply personal. ‘I don’t want any child to suffer the way I did,’ she said. ‘That is why I ensure my own daughters receive polio drops in every campaign, and I urge parents to do the same.’
She emphasises that the oral polio vaccine strengthens children’s immunity against the virus and is also administered to pilgrims travelling for Umrah and Hajj. What frustrates her most, she says, is resistance from educated families. ‘Even educated people remain ignorant and harm their own children by refusing vaccination,’ Sadia said. ‘They don’t realise the consequences until it’s too late.’
Uzma Hamza, 47, shares a similar story of survival and service. She contracted polio in 1978 at the age of just six months. Now a Lady Health Visitor posted at a fixed vaccination point near Bibi Pak Daman in Lahore’s Garhi Shahu area, she has spent decades administering vaccines and counselling reluctant parents.
‘The polio vaccine is extremely effective if every child under five is vaccinated in every campaign,’ Uzma said. She noted that frequent immunisation drives have ironically fueled suspicion. ‘Some people believe it is a ploy for family planning. These misconceptions must be rejected for the sake of our children’s health and future.’
Dr Waseem Saleem, a paediatrician from Services Hospital, firmly rejects conspiracy theories. ‘There is no scientific evidence of any international agenda or disease transmission linked to polio vaccines,’ he said. He pointed out that such myths persist mainly in Pakistan and Afghanistan, despite global support to eradicate the disease.
‘The real reason polio still exists here is incomplete immunisation,’ he explained, adding that achieving 75 percent coverage in any area can create herd immunity. He urged parents to vaccinate children in every campaign, stressing that both oral and injectable vaccines are safe.
