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Center Articles and PublicationsThe Challenge of Eradication: Lessons From Past Eradication Campaigns (The Pittsfield Lecture) The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. 1998;2(9):54-58. Excerpt from Introduction: "In 1980, the World Health Assembly proclaimed the fact that smallpox had been eradicated and that vaccination everywhere could cease. Thus culminated a global campaign which began in January 1967. That year, 46 countries reported smallpox cases. Surveys were to reveal that between 10 and 15 million cases had occurred that year and that 2 million had died. A ten-year goal had been proposed when the program was originally agreed upon by the World Health Assembly. The target was missed, but only by 9 months and 26 days. "This was an achievement which was widely hailed because smallpox through history has been by far the most devastating of all diseases, capable of being transmitted in any country and in any season. Before a vaccination became available, everyone eventually contracted the disease and some 25% to 30% died. "That threat was removed by the eradication campaign which, in international support, cost, in all, about $8 million per year over 13 years, from its launch to the certification of eradication by a global commission. The savings are estimated to amount to perhaps $2000 million per year. "The immediate lesson which many drew from this achievement was that having eradicated one disease and so having demonstrated eradication to be a possible goal, other diseases should be targeted. All manner of candidates have been proposed over the past 15 years, with everything from urban rabies to periodontal disease to tuberculosis receiving mention by one visionary or another. The advocates argue that even if the goal of eradication is not achieved, substantial additional resources will be mobilized by proclaiming this goal and, at the very least, better control of the disease in question will be achieved. This is a very attractive argument, but a dangerously fallacious one as I shall describe." Note: This article is not available online. |