Global smallpox eradication

Apr. 2015

1980 witnessed the fulfilment of a goal that many had considered impossible. At the recommendation of an independent commission of experts, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Health Assembly announced the global eradication of smallpox. It was a momentous occasion. In the view of many, with good reason, this was the greatest achievement of global public health in the twentieth century.

Small pox

Rural vaccinator, British India, 1930.

However, the passage of time seems to have taken some shine off the accomplishment in some quarters. Speeches and writings dealing with problems faced with current immunisation programmes argue, all too often, that smallpox eradication was easily achieved. According to this interpretation of events, the problems faced by the ‘smallpox warriors’ were relatively straightforward as the disease did not have animal hosts. Click here to see the full projectpodcasts and interviews.

Articles in English  about smallpox already published in HCS- Manguinhos:

Soumonni, Elisée. Disease, religion and medicine:smallpox in nineteenth-century BeninHist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, Dec 2012, vol.19, suppl.1, p.35-45. ISSN 0104-5970

Palmer, Steven, Hochman, Gilberto and Arbex, Danieli. Smallpox eradication, laboratory visits, and a touch of tourism: travel notes of a Canadian scientist in BrazilHist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, 2010, vol.17, no.3, p.777-790. ISSN 0104-5970

Hochman, Gilberto and Palmer, Steven. Smallpox eradication and Brazil: an interview with Donald A. Henderson. Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, 2010, vol.17, no.3, p.759-775. ISSN 0104-5970

Bhattacharya, Sanjoy. Struggling to a monumental triumph: re-assessing the final phases of the smallpox eradication program in India, 1960-1980Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, Dec 2007, vol.14, no.4, p.1113-1129. ISSN 0104-5970

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