Risking lives to help others is nothing new for Saira Nizamuddin. The 19-year-old healthcare worker travels around Karachi, Pakistan, the largest city in the world where polio is still evident, to administer the polio vaccine. She, along with a team of 10 other vaccinators—all local women—were once escorted by police when they traveled from door to door administering the lifesaving vaccine, but lately they’ve been working unguarded. She says the low-profile approach is meant to assuage any rumors spread by locals that the vaccine is unsafe or forbidden by Islam—both false claims. For years many locals feared that male vaccinators were spies, and because of this healthcare workers often refused to travel without security. “There’s no need for security,” said Sikander Ali, a local health department official. “People view the female health workers as locals.” According to officials, thanks to this final push by Nizamuddin and those like her, Pakistan is on track to eradicate polio by year’s end.

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