Summary: The Eradication Of Smallpox Disease

There are many programs that are developed and implemented to address health issues around the world. Many of those programs do not get to accomplish the goal that they were developed for due to many different barriers that they may encounter that hinder the progress of the program. Global health program success is largely dependent on strong leadership and management, funding and the governments’ willingness to use their authority to improve the health of their populations. The eradication of small pox is an example of global health success. Smallpox disease was a serious, highly contagious and often life threatening infection that was caused by the Variola virus and those who were infected by it had violent fevers, a rash of round pox(blisters) on their face, arms and legs (CDC, 2017). People became infected with the virus by touching or breathing in the smallpox virus, not everyone who was exposed to the virus became ill but most did. The global spread of smallpox began with the growth and spread of civilizations, exploration and expanding trade routes.

Small pox was a devastating disease that on average, 3/10 people who were infected with it died and those who survived it were left with scars (Greenspan, 2015). Early efforts to control the spread of disease include variolation which was the process in which the material from the smallpox blisters were given to healthy people which would cause them to develop the symptoms of the disease but the chances of them surviving were higher than if they had acquired the disease