Health Strategies for Eradication of Small Pox and Polio at Population Level

Health Strategies for Eradication of Small Pox and Polio at Population Level

Center for Global Development (CGD) defines smallpox as a viral infection that is transmitted from one person to another through the air. The virus is dispersed by face-to-face contact with an infected person or when one touches contaminated clothing. An individual could stay infectious and healthy for 17 days after contracting the virus. Smallpox became an eradication goal in the 1950s when a ten-year campaign was launched globally through compulsory vaccination and revaccination. WHO suggested that the disease could be eradicated by vaccinating or revaccinating 80% of individuals living in endemic areas within 4 to 5 years (Center for Global Development, n.d.). Polio is a viral disease that is highly infectious that mainly affects children below the age of five. There are three types of poliovirus. Type 3 and 2 were eradicated between 1999 and 2020. Type 1 has remained in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Polio is prevented through immunization, although it has no cure. It was eliminated through a global polio eradication initiative (GPEI) (World Health Organization, n.d.). The initiative’s partners aimed at ensuring that no more children were paralyzed by polio again.

Population Health Strategies Used

Both polio and smallpox have been eradicated through vaccination as a population-level health strategy. Since the formation of GPEI in 1988, it has formed alliances with more than 200 nations to vaccinate billions of children against polio. This eradication strategy has adapted to diverse contexts and emerging challenges (Deressa et al., 2020). Smallpox eradication in 1980 was a triumph for the public health fraternity. WHO eradication program presented smallpox’s first-generation vaccines utilizing vaccinia virus-like DryVax. The primary strategy was mass vaccination during the endemic era, but the demand exceeded supply making it a challenge to be vaccinated. Therefore, a ring vaccination strategy was unveiled, which combined surveillance, containment, and vaccination of close contacts (Costantino et al., 2021). This was the main strategy that led to the final eradication phases of smallpox.