Journal
VACCINE
Volume 29, Issue -, Pages D7-D9Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2011.06.080
Keywords
Smallpox; Eradication; Variola; Vaccinia; Smallpox vaccine; World Health Organization
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The 30th anniversary of the declaration of smallpox eradication is a propitious time to look back on the evolutionary history of the program, its execution, and its legacy for the future. The eradication of history's most feared disease culminated a decade-long World Health Organization campaign which began despite skepticism and doubt and succeeded despite a never ending array of obstacles occasioned by floods, civil war, famine, and bureaucratic inertia. New concepts in public health management, surveillance, and the application of large-scale programs for vaccination were fostered and matured. A new generation of young health workers emerged who applied new approaches and experienced the gratification of public health achievement. A definitive legacy for the future was the extension of the program into an Expanded Program on Immunization, now functioning world-wide and resulting in dramatic improvements in health through control of vaccine-preventable diseases. No less important are the growing number of multinational programs whose foundations rest on the development of active case surveillance to measure achievement and to guide progress - poliomyelitis, measles, guinea worm, and rubella. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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