A massive campaign led by the World Health Organization (WHO) rid the world of smallpox in 1977. The campaign inspired the creation of the WHO's Expanded Program on Immunization, which continues to provide vaccines and health worker training in developing countries.
Video from the Series:
Learn more about the eradication of smallpox.
Part I: The Campaign Begins (6:39)
Part II: The Last Case (5:26)
In the 1980s, as part of the UNICEF-sponsored Campaign for Child Survival, poor countries conducted massive campaigns to reach 80 percent of their children (75 percent in Africa) with a package of six childhood vaccines. By the end of the decade, these interventions were credited with saving the lives of 12 million children.
Today, through the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, public health experts continue to work toward better coverage rates and the introduction of new vaccines for diseases, notably for hepatitis B and Japanese encephalitis.
In addition, an international campaign to eradicate polio has also reached the final stages, with incidence of the disease now confined to very limited areas of the world, despite some recent resurgence.
Video from the Series:
Learn more about the worldwide campaign against polio.
Part I: The Polio Campaign in India (5:03)
Part II: The Polio Campaign in India: Public Resistance to Vaccines (6:08)
Part III: The Campaign Reaches its Climax (9:02)
In 1974, a public-private consortium of donors launched the Onchocerciasis Control Program (OCP) to reduce the transmission of African river blindness. The program has prevented an estimated 600,000 cases of African river blindness, leading to an estimated $3.7 billion in increased productivity. Treatment costs less than $1 a person.
Video from the Series:
Learn more about the campaign against river blindness. Watch Video.
Part I: The River Eats Your Eyes (3:33)
Part II: A Ray of Hope (6:22)
Consider BRAC, the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee. BRAC is a grassroots organization that, in the last two decades, has decreased child mortality in Bangladesh threefold, increased life expectancy by eight years, and doubled literacy rates. This has all been accomplished by educating community volunteers, largely women, and sending them into rural areas to share the information they've learned.
Learn more about BRAC's work in Bangladesh. Watch Video.
Part I: The Birth of BRAC (4:51)
