Posts Tagged ‘smallpox’

Global Health Giant Joins Fight to Eliminate Polio

February 15th, 2011

Shortly after Bill Gates’ “Polio and the Power of Vaccines” event—where Mr. Gates and a panel of experts including Sabin Executive Vice President Dr. Ciro de Quadros issued a renewed call to eliminate polio—one global health giant was quoted strongly opposing global polio elimination efforts.

As New York Times reporter Donald McNeil notes in this article published yesterday, “why does it matter what one particular expert thinks? Because, for better or worse, the mantle has been wrapped around the venerable 82-year-old Donald A. Henderson that he is “The Man Who Wiped Out Smallpox.”

Thankfully, Mr. McNeil’s article goes on to report how the esteemed Dr. Henderson has changed his opinion on the important matter of polio eradication. And the reason behind Dr. Henderson’s 180 is a conversation with Dr. de Quadros.

“The Man Who Found the Last Case of Smallpox in Ethiopia and Chased Polio and Measles Out of the Western Hemisphere,” aka Dr. de Quadros, was able to convince “The Man Who Wiped Out Smallpox” that Mr. Gates is committed to eradicating polio and that vaccine technology has advanced considerably, among other things.

Now, with Dr. Henderson on board, the global health community can forcefully move ahead with adding polio to the list of the diseases eliminated from humanity.

Read “Can Polio Be Eradicated? A Skeptic Now Thinks So.”

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Posted in Global Health, Vaccine Diplomacy

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Smallpox Eradication Taught Us How to Fight Polio: Now We Need to Win the Battle

August 27th, 2010

Reprinted with permission from Foundation Blog, The official blog of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

By: Dr. Tadataka Tachi Yamada

When I was growing up in Japan, my close friend Keichi Maruyama, who lived right next door to me, was crippled from polio.

Most people today are too young to remember, but it was a disease that struck fear into every family. We knew it could hit home at any time.

Dr. Tadataka Tachi Yamada watches as a boy receives a polio vaccination at Bhairon Mandir Temple. Tachi was there to understand the importance of transit and migratory populations in contributing to polio transmission. New Delhi, India. April 5, 2009. Photo courtesy of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation / Prashant Panjiar.

Polio is no longer a threat in most of the world, thanks to a polio vaccine and an enormous global commitment. We are now locked in a mortal battle to completely eradicate the disease and have reduced the fight to just four countries – Nigeria, India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

This week I attended a symposium to commemorate the 30th anniversary of smallpox eradication. Thanks to the development and delivery of a vaccine, we achieved one of the greatest global health victories of all time. Vaccines are the most important and cost-effective intervention available to prevent illnesses and death.

I believe the fundamental lessons from smallpox can be applied to many diseases, especially the fight against polio. We need political will, sufficient human and financial resources, and ongoing scientific innovation

Of course there will be challenges along the way. I think the biggest lesson from the smallpox success is that we must approach each new challenge with the spirit of continuous learning and be flexible enough to adjust along the way. We must do the same until the world is polio-free, so that our children’s children will never have to say: “You came this close and gave up.”

Dr. Tachi Yamada, president of the foundation’s Global Health Program, leads the foundation’s efforts to help develop and deliver low-cost, life-saving health tools for the developing world. He oversees Global Health’s grantmaking, which focuses on four major activities: discovery, development, delivery, and advocacy.

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Posted in Africa, Global Development, Global Health, India, poverty, Public Health

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Lessons Learned from Smallpox – When Eradication is the Goal, One Case is One Too Many

August 26th, 2010

Reprinted with permission from Foundation Blog, The Official Blog of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

By: Walt Orenstein

I will never forget March 16, 1975.  It had been almost four months since I began working in India’s largest state, Uttar Pradesh (UP), to try to eradicate smallpox. 

On that morning, I was contacted about a new case of smallpox.  I reached the patient about 1 ½ hours after she died from an unusual complication, late hemorrhagic smallpox.  Her name was Shanti, a 7 month old child, the daughter of Pyari Lal. She was probably infected by her sibling.  Her death was totally preventable, but fortunately she turned out to be the last case of smallpox in UP.

We finally broke the human chains of transmission of that terrible virus.  That experience in India taught me how serious vaccine preventable diseases could be and how powerful vaccines are in preventing these types of tragedies.

Walter A. Orenstein, M.D doing community outreach in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India during the successful 1975 smallpox eradication campaign. Photo Credit: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The eradication of smallpox showed that effective vaccines can lead to the ultimate goal: the permanent end of a serious affliction of humankind. Smallpox eradication is our generation’s gift to all future generations. » Read more: Lessons Learned from Smallpox — When Eradication is the Goal, One Case is One Too Many

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Posted in Global Development, Global Health, India, poverty, Public Health

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Smallpox is dead!

August 25th, 2010

Photo courtesy of WHO

A Google image search of “smallpox” will display photos which, to be frank, are startling and hard to look at. What’s even more shocking than the images themselves is the fact that smallpox remains the only disease to have been eradicated* from humanity.  2010 marks the 30th anniversary of the Global Commission for the Certification of Smallpox Eradication officially reporting the elimination of smallpox disease—one of the greatest triumphs in medicine and public health.

To commemorate this truly admirable feat, hundreds of global health practitioners, scientists and advocates have gathered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for a symposium that is aimed at sharing “lessons, legacies, and innovations” thirty years post the eradication of smallpox.

The Sabin Vaccine Institute will be live streaming the symposium here, and in addition to presentations by our President, Dr. Peter Hotez, and Executive Vice-President Dr. Ciro de Quadros, who served as the World Health Organization (WHO) Chief Epidemiologist for the Smallpox Eradication Program in Ethiopia from 1970 to 1976, the symposium will feature presentations by Dr. DA Henderson, Former Chief of the WHO Smallpox Eradication Program; Dr. Mirta Roses, Director of the Pan American Health Organization; Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University; and Dr. Tadataka Yamada, President of the Global Health Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, among others.

» Read more: Smallpox is dead!

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Posted in Global Health, NTDs

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