Smallpox

More than 3,000 years have passed since the first outbreak of smallpox, a disease that killed, maimed, and blinded hundreds of millions of people. In 1967, Dr. D. A. Henderson was charged with wiping the illness off the face of the earth—a goal he helped achieve when he headed up the World Health Organization's drive to eradicate smallpox. This effort has been dubbed the greatest scientific and humanitarian achievement of the century by some. Dr. Henderson shares his experiences in this enthralling book while making it apparent that a massive worldwide effort entailed more than just mass immunization—challenges included civil wars, floods, impassable roads, refugees, bureaucratic impediments, scarcity of local health experts, and tight resources among other things.