Disease eradication – from smallpox to polio

Note: Vehicle leaves for NCBS at 3.15 pm from the parking bay in front of the main library in IISc and at 5.45 pm from NCBS to IISc.

Abstract

This lecture will examine communicable disease eradication as a public health strategy in historical perspective, highlighting examples since 1800, and contrasting disease eradication with the alternative model of disease control.  The unexpected failures of malaria and yellow fever eradication efforts and the equally unexpected success of smallpox eradication will be discussed, while the verdict on polio eradication is pending this very year.  India has a prominent place in both the smallpox and polio narratives.  The lecturer’s approach is not based on biomedical data but on the social and political considerations that shape public health policy and determine attitudes toward particular diseases

Host: Prof. S.Ramaswamy (ramas at ncbs.res.in)

Please join for high tea and discussions at the Hortus Malabaricus Gardens.