Constant Dedo, a polio-consultant at WHO, was on his way to work at Karachi after a routine visit during a polio vaccination campaign in Pakistan on July 18, 2012.
The polio expert, who had worked in many conflict zones throughout his career, was hired by WHO’s polio drive and was working in a country that is known for its high number of polio victims.
His vehicle was suddenly intercepted in the north-western part of Karachi, where he was shot in the abdomen, requiring major surgery for his life to be saved.
Dr Dedo survived the attack, and is still working to eradicate polio from the world. He was among the five recipients of Heroes of Polio Eradication (HOPE) award this year, along with Mrs Freeda, Atta Ullah, Bibi Malaika, and Lawan Didi Misbahu.
This year, the UAE and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have partnered together to honour these heroes and introduced the HOPE award to inspire those courageous individuals who have been fighting to create a polio-free world, sometimes even risking their lives in the process.
Mrs Freeda from Pakistan is one of them. She lost one of her family members in an attack during an anti-polio campaign, while five female health workers were brutally slaughtered in the same year in Pakistan.
Amidst fear of deadly attacks and the grief of losing someone very close to her, she continued her work to immunise children from polio in a nation where polio hangs over the head like a malignant storm cloud.
Bill Gates, co-chair of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, had called them his heroes in 2015, and expressed his gratitude to them for their relentless efforts.
This campaign to eradicate polio has had a very impressive story so far. Looking back at the progress in polio eradication, one can see how excellent it was.
Worldwide cases of death and paralysis from polio have been reduced to less than 100 this year, from 350,000 all the way back in 1988.
Another milestone which was achieved last year was the fact that African nations did not face a single wild polio case at all.
Developing nations like Bangladesh have been successfully conducting this campaign every year, achieving the status of being polio-free long ago.
This stunning progress could not have been possible without health workers, the sincere effort from governments, and the never-ending financial support from international donors.
Their efforts altogether saved the lives of almost 13 million children over the last three decades.
Around the world, thousands of polio workers have selflessly dedicated their lives to stopping polio in their communities, whether through educating families about the disease, advocating to local leaders, or delivering polio vaccines to children directly.
It is, in large part, because of their efforts that the world is now on the verge of becoming polio-free.
But the path was not nearly as smooth as the statistical figures may indicate.
In Bangladesh, until 1986, an estimated 11,500 children were infected with the polio virus.
Moreover, Bangladesh faced certain specific challenges like hot, humid monsoon seasons, when it is easiest for the virus to thrive and spread; a large population often living in crowded, unsanitary conditions; migrant groups.
Amid all these challenges, Bangladesh had become successful in stopping the transmission of polio, in 1997 -- 14 years before its neighbour, India.
Pakistan, a country that has never been classified as polio-free, is still facing challenges of an unusual nature -- threats from extremists.
Militants in Pakistan have always been apprehensive of polio vaccination campaigns for some reason. Taliban commanders in north-west Pakistan have announced a ban on polio vaccines for children in the region for as long as the US continues its drone strikes in the region.
This ban has resulted in numerous deadly attacks on vaccination campaigns in the region, resulting in many deaths.
Thousands of inspiring individuals like Freeda, Atta Ullah, Bibi Malaika, and Dr Dedo never abandoned their fight against polio, paving the way for the astonishing success in protecting the world’s children from polio.
The initiative to honour these heroes through HOPE is something they deserve. The stories of the polio-heroes must be written prominently in the history of mankind.
