Rania Bibi had spent four years administering polio drops in the backstreets of Lahore's Ravi Town neighbourhood before Covid-19 paused her life-saving work.
Pakistan's vast effort to stamp out the crippling childhood disease was put on hold in March amid fears door-to-door polio vaccination would spread the new coronavirus.
The break to her duties could not have come at a more difficult time. While the world in August celebrated the eradication of wild poliovirus from Africa, the news from its final two haunts of Pakistan and Afghanistan has been grimmer.
Cases rose sharply in 2019 and international monitors gave the programme a severe review for poor performance. Then just as efforts were being overhauled and redoubled, Covid-19 stepped in and shut them down.
It was while she was on this enforced break that Ms Bibi received the awful news that a toddler on her vaccination patch had caught polio and died.
"I cried when I heard he had died," she told The National.
The death of 26-month-old Muhammad Ali in July was all the more disheartening because it was not the first in Ravi Town in 2020.
Lahore, the capital of Pakistan's Punjab province, had until recently appeared clear of polio after enormous efforts to vaccinate the young inhabitants. After recording a case in 2011, the city remained disease-free.
By 2018, the whole of Pakistan seemed on the verge of eradicating the childhood scourge. Health officials recorded only 12 cases in the whole of that year.
Yet on the cusp of a historic public health victory, the trend instead reversed. Last year saw 147 cases nationwide, including five in Lahore, and sewage samples show the virus is widespread.
An independent board of eminent public health doctors which monitors the global eradication campaign recently criticised the “jaw-dropping slump of performance”.
The board led by Sir Liam Donaldson, formerly England's chief medical officer, warned that unless Pakistan managed to shake up and turn around its programme within six months “the wheels will come off the Pakistan bus”.
With the pandemic, fortunately, having subsided in Pakistan, at least for now, the country's army of health workers resumed nationwide door-to-door campaigns late last month.
Dr Rana Muhammad Safdar, national co-ordinator for the campaign, admits there were “challenges” in 2019. Complacency had set in and political rifts were undermining efforts. The poorest resent the time and investment given to a polio campaign when the government will not provide even clean water or electricity. Most worrying has been a stubborn level of suspicion and conspiracy theory directed at the drops. Long-standing accusations that the campaign is a western plot to sterilise Muslims, or that the drops are otherwise harmful, have been fed by extremist groups and turbocharged by social media. The propaganda led to near hysteria in April 2019, when false rumours spread around the north-eastern city of Peshawar that schoolboys had fallen ill. In a single day, parents rushed 25,000 children to hospital and a state of emergency was declared.
Dr Safdar says lessons were learnt. The campaign has been given across-the-board political backing, he says, and education and outreach efforts have been redoubled. A revitalised campaign was launched late in 2019, only then to run headlong into the pandemic. Epidemiologists worry the hiatus will lead to a further increase in cases.
“Everyone was so depressed when we were regaining some momentum and Covid hit,” Dr Safdar says.
Capt Usman Younis, health secretary for Punjab, said it had been “disheartening” to see polio creep back into Lahore.
“We are very hopeful in about four months we will have a very, very different Punjab. Obviously, Covid has done some amount of damage because we did not do enough campaigns during this time,” he said.
The country's brush with coronavirus has made parents cautious, he said. When workers like Ms Bibi returned to work in late September, they wore masks and carried hand sanitiser on top of their usual equipment.
Nationwide, 260,000 vaccinators sought to vaccinate 40 million children and Ms Bibi was among 4,000 door-to-door teams working in Lahore alone, with another 1,000 teams posted in bazaars and bus stations to vaccinate passing children.
The death of little Muhammad Ali had made her more committed to finishing the job, she said.
“I'm motivated to do more.”
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20IPHONE%2015%20PRO%20MAX
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WITHIN%20SAND
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Moe%20Alatawi%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Ra%E2%80%99ed%20Alshammari%2C%20Adwa%20Fahd%2C%20Muhand%20Alsaleh%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Pad Man
Dir: R Balki
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte
Three-and-a-half stars
MATCH INFO
English Premiership semi-finals
Saracens 57
Wasps 33
Exeter Chiefs 36
Newcastle Falcons 5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Eco%20Way%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20December%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ivan%20Kroshnyi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Electric%20vehicles%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Bootstrapped%20with%20undisclosed%20funding.%20Looking%20to%20raise%20funds%20from%20outside%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Race card:
6.30pm: Maiden; Dh165,000; 2,000m
7.05pm: Handicap; Dh165,000; 2,200m
7.40pm: Conditions; Dh240,000; 1,600m
8.15pm: Handicap; Dh190,000; 2,000m
8.50pm: The Garhoud Sprint Listed; Dh265,000; 1,200m
9.25pm: Handicap; Dh170,000; 1,600m
10pm: Handicap; Dh190,000; 1,400m
Premier Futsal 2017 Finals
Al Wasl Football Club; six teams, five-a-side
Delhi Dragons: Ronaldinho
Bengaluru Royals: Paul Scholes
Mumbai Warriors: Ryan Giggs
Chennai Ginghams: Hernan Crespo
Telugu Tigers: Deco
Kerala Cobras: Michel Salgado
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPowertrain%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle%20electric%20motor%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E201hp%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E310Nm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBattery%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E53kWh%20lithium-ion%20battery%20pack%20(GS%20base%20model)%3B%2070kWh%20battery%20pack%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETouring%20range%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E350km%20(GS)%3B%20480km%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh129%2C900%20(GS)%3B%20Dh149%2C000%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.0-litre%204-cyl%20turbo%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E190hp%20at%205%2C600rpm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E320Nm%20at%201%2C500-4%2C000rpm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E7-speed%20dual-clutch%20auto%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E10.9L%2F100km%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh119%2C900%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Wayne Rooney's career
Everton (2002-2004)
- Appearances: 48
- Goals: 17
Manchester United (2004-2017)
- Appearances: 496
- Goals: 253
England (2003-)
- Appearances: 119
- Goals: 53
ALL THE RESULTS
Bantamweight
Siyovush Gulmomdov (TJK) bt Rey Nacionales (PHI) by decision.
Lightweight
Alexandru Chitoran (ROU) bt Hussein Fakhir Abed (SYR) by submission.
Catch 74kg
Omar Hussein (JOR) bt Tohir Zhuraev (TJK) by decision.
Strawweight (Female)
Seo Ye-dam (KOR) bt Weronika Zygmunt (POL) by decision.
Featherweight
Kaan Ofli (TUR) bt Walid Laidi (ALG) by TKO.
Lightweight
Abdulla Al Bousheiri (KUW) bt Leandro Martins (BRA) by TKO.
Welterweight
Ahmad Labban (LEB) bt Sofiane Benchohra (ALG) by TKO.
Bantamweight
Jaures Dea (CAM) v Nawras Abzakh (JOR) no contest.
Lightweight
Mohammed Yahya (UAE) bt Glen Ranillo (PHI) by TKO round 1.
Lightweight
Alan Omer (GER) bt Aidan Aguilera (AUS) by TKO round 1.
Welterweight
Mounir Lazzez (TUN) bt Sasha Palatkinov (HKG) by TKO round 1.
Featherweight title bout
Romando Dy (PHI) v Lee Do-gyeom (KOR) by KO round 1.
'The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey'
Rating: 3/5
Directors: Ramin Bahrani, Debbie Allen, Hanelle Culpepper, Guillermo Navarro
Writers: Walter Mosley
Stars: Samuel L Jackson, Dominique Fishback, Walton Goggins
In numbers
- Number of children under five will fall from 681 million in 2017 to 401m in 2100
- Over-80s will rise from 141m in 2017 to 866m in 2100
- Nigeria will become the world’s second most populous country with 791m by 2100, behind India
- China will fall dramatically from a peak of 2.4 billion in 2024 to 732 million by 2100
- an average of 2.1 children per woman is required to sustain population growth