Pretoria - In commemorating the 30th anniversary of the eradication of small pox, a statue has been unveiled by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a reminder of the great achievements that have been made in public health.
The cast bronze and stone statue, unveiled in front of the WHO headquarters by the organisation's Director-General Dr Margaret Chane depicts four persons, one of whom is a girl about to be vaccinated in the arm.
The statue pays homage to those who were involved in the small pox eradication drive including governments, health care workers, donor agencies, non-governmental organisations, commercial firms and village leaders who supported the vaccination of their residents and provided food and shelter on many occasions to vaccination teams.
The plaques surrounding the statue, written in the six official languages of WHO, state that this victory was made possible by all nations working together.
Unveiling the statue on Monday, Dr Chan said the eradication of smallpox shows that with strong mutual resolve, teamwork and an international spirit of solidarity, ambitious global public health goals can be attained.
"The statue stands as a reminder of the significance of such an achievement, and shows the power of international health cooperation to do great and lasting good," Chan said.
A World Health Assembly resolution (WHA 33.3), adopted on 8 May 1980, declared that the global goal of smallpox eradication had been achieved.
The world's last naturally occurring case was discovered on 26 October 1977 in Somalia. This was followed by two years of actively searching for cases to make certain that transmission of the virus had been stopped.
With the global eradication of smallpox, vaccination stopped and quarantine measures were no longer needed.
Annual savings are estimated to be more than US$ 1 billion, above and beyond the alleviation of a terrible burden of death and disability. The total cost for the programme over the period 1967 to 1980 has been estimated to be about US$ 300 million of which two thirds was borne by the endemic countries themselves.
