Disease Eradication

• Following a worldwide vaccination programme the final case of the smallpox disease was reported in 1975, eith the world being declared smallpox free in 1980.

Diseases currently on track to be eradiated by 2030:

• Polio
• Guinea Worm
• Yaws
• Malaria

Scales of disease eradication:

• Polio- Global
• Malaria - National (Mauritius)
• Guinea Worm- Local (Ghana -> Bottom Up)

Scale

• Global
• 350,000 children infected in 1988
• 1 in 10 died from breathing complications
• Could leave children paralysed for life.

Initiatives

• Volunteers have used donkeys, canoes or helicopters to deliver vaccines
• Top Down

Successes

• Number of infections now down 99%
• In Africa, the last case was in the Puntland Region of Somalia on 11 August 2014
• Today, only two countries remain polio-endemic (Afghanistan and Pakistan) downfrom over 125 in 1988

Prevention

• Vaccinating people so they don't pick up the disease
• Largest public health campaign in history

Scale

• Local -> Grass Roots (Ghana, West Africa)
• First parasitic disease set for eradication

Initiatives

• Effective case containment measures
• Specific interventions
• Reporting and maintaining databases
• Mapping all known locations of the disease

Successes

• Several countries in Africa, Asian and Middle East have eradicated the disease
• Disease has limited geographical distribution and transmission is seasonal

Prevention

• Access to safe water using water filters