Explore how the World Health Organization led one of the greatest public health achievements in human history: the global eradication of smallpox. Responsible for an estimated 300 million deaths in the 20th century alone, smallpox was eliminated through decades of international cooperation, mass vaccination campaigns, innovative surveillance strategies, and Cold War-era collaboration between rival nations. Trace the long road from early eradication efforts in the 1950s to the last naturally occurring cases in Bangladesh and Somalia, culminating in the WHO’s historic declaration in 1980 that the disease had been eradicated worldwide. Written by Jim Harris. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video production by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle, Dr. Michael J. Corsi, and Justin Troyer. A transcript is available at https://origins.osu.edu/read/who-and-eradication-smallpox. This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University.
WHO and the End of Smallpox
The WHO eradicated smallpox, a disease that killed hundreds of millions, through global cooperation, mass vaccination, surveillance, and even Cold War collaboration, culminating in the last cases in the 1970s and worldwide eradication in 1980.
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