Smallpox was eradicated on the back of a 10-year-old effort spearheaded by the WHO involving thousands of health workers around the world to administer half a billion vaccinations.
India

UN agencies commemorate 40th anniversary of smallpox eradication with a stamp

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UN’’s postal company have launched a commemorative postage stamp on the 40th anniversary of the eradication of smallpox.

“To commemorate the 40th Anniversary of #smallpox eradication, the @UN Postal Administration and WHO are releasing a commemorative postage stamp to recognize global solidarity in fighting smallpox,” the WHO tweeted on the digital unveiling of the stamp in Geneva on Friday.

 

In one other tweet, it mentioned, “#OnThisDay 40 years ago, #smallpox was made history. It’s the only human disease to be eradicated so far. A lesson we must take is: when the Earth globe europe-africa unites behind science and public health measures we can defeat diseases and protect lives and livelihoods.”

 

Smallpox was eradicated on the again of a 10-year-old effort spearheaded by the WHO involving hundreds of well being employees world wide to manage half a billion vaccinations.

“When WHO’’s smallpox eradication campaign was launched in 1967, one of the ways countries raised awareness about smallpox was through postage stamps – when social media like Twitter and Facebook was not even on the horizon,” World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus mentioned.

The stamp recognises the worldwide solidarity in combating smallpox and honours tens of millions of individuals working collectively, from world leaders and worldwide organisations to rural medical doctors and neighborhood well being employees, to eradicate smallpox.

The WHO chief mentioned that lots of the primary public well being instruments that had been used efficiently to eradicate smallpox are the identical instruments which have been used to answer Ebola and Covid–19: illness surveillance, case discovering, contact tracing, and mass communication campaigns to tell affected populations.

The WHO is now working with many companions to develop a vaccine for Covid-19 to management the transmission of the virus, Ghebreyesus mentioned.

The UN mentioned that the profitable smallpox eradication programme yielded very important data and instruments for the sector of illness surveillance, the advantages of vaccination and the significance of well being promotion in combating different ailments.

In May 1980, the 33rd World Health Assembly issued its official declaration that “the world and all its peoples have won freedom from smallpox.”

“There are many lessons to learn from the eradication of smallpox that can help fight the Covid-19 pandemic today and prepare for future pandemics,” the UN mentioned.

“The eradication of smallpox offers us hope and shows us what global solidarity can achieve,” it mentioned.

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