CSU 66/2011: HENDERSON ON SMALLPOX (1)

Sunday, 27th of February 2011

HENDERSON ON SMALLPOX

When D. A. Henderson took the reins of the Smallpox Eradication Programme in 1966, WHO was on the point of abandoning its decade long commitment to malaria eradication. The eradication skeptics were numerous, including the then Director-General of WHO.

Ten years later, the skeptics were disproven, and Henderson was on his way to a new career as dean of public health at Johns Hopkins.

The interview gives a few insights into how the world conquered smallpox, and in particular how WHO reoriented itself from mass vaccination to surveillance and containment.

Full text at http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/86/12/08-041208/en/index.html