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.
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 project, podcasts and interviews.
Articles in English about smallpox already published in HCS- Manguinhos:
Soumonni, Elisée. Disease, religion and medicine:smallpox in nineteenth-century Benin. Hist. 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 Brazil. Hist. 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, 1960-1980. Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, Dec 2007, vol.14, no.4, p.1113-1129. ISSN 0104-5970
