Former head of the World Health Organisation, Donald A. Henderson who was intrumental in leading the worldwide battle against small pox with the aid of vaccination in the 1970s and helped in almost wiping off the disease, died last Friday in Baltimore. Mr. Henderson had suffered from a hip fracture and complications arising out if were thought to be the reason behind his death.
A report on the FOX NEWS website recounted his efforts to eradicate small pox. "Smallpox is a highly infectious virus that kills 30 percent of its victims and scars the rest for life. In 1972, he flew to Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia to help stamp out the last smallpox outbreak in Europe, the WHO said. After the campaign to wipe out the disease, Henderson became dean of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health from 1977 to 1990, expanding the school's reach and making it a national leader in addressing HIV/AIDS, said Michael Klag, dean of the school."
The report went on to add, "In 2001, Henderson was named by then U.S. President George W. Bush to head a newly formed Office of Public Health Preparedness, set up to coordinate the national response to public health emergencies, including a spate of anthrax attacks that took place at the end of that year. In 2002, he received the nation's highest civilian honor when he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom." The report also quoted an interview with the World Health Organisation in which he spoke about the small pox eradication, "The most important legacy of smallpox eradication was its demonstration of how many people could be protected through vaccination, so rapidly and inexpensively with a well planned program and quality-control monitoring," It is worth noting that small pox remains the only disease that has been completely eradicated through vaccination efforts and there is no doubt that Mr. Henderson will continue to be regarded as a towering figure in perpetuity.
