Global Health Institute Launches Secretariat for Commemoration of ...

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The Emory Global Health Institute and veteran smallpox eradicationworkers from around the world have launched a secretariat toorganize events commemorating the 30th anniversary of the worldwideeradication of smallpox. The formal commemoration will take placein May 2010 at the time of the World Health Assembly at the WorldHealth Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.

The year 2010 will mark the 30th year since the World HealthAssembly certified the world free of smallpox. On May 8, 1980, theGlobal Commission for the Certification of Smallpox Eradicationreported to the 33rd assembly that natural transmission of thisscourge had ceased in 1977 and that all conditions forcertification of eradication had been met.

Veteran smallpox eradication workers will lead the SmallpoxEradication Commemoration 2010 (SEC2010) secretariat at the EmoryGlobal Health Institute. The secretariat is launching a worldwidedesign competition for a smallpox eradication monument to beinstalled at the entrance of the WHO headquarters in Geneva. Themonument will be unveiled and dedicated at commemoration eventsduring the period of the 63rd World Health Assembly in May 2010 inGeneva.

"The Emory Global Health Institute is honored to partner withsmallpox eradication veterans in launching a secretariat toorganize events for this momentous commemoration event" saysJeffrey P. Koplan, MD, MPH, vice president for global health atEmory University and director of the Emory Global Health Institute."The events in 2010 will recognize true global courage andcooperation, and we are pleased to play a leadership role in thiscelebration"

Koplan, who is former director and a 26-year veteran of the Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention, began his public health careerworking to eradicate smallpox in Bangladesh.

During the eradication campaign, hundreds of thousands of dedicatedsmallpox workers throughout the world performed heroically underexceedingly challenging conditions in service to their countries.The 30th anniversary commemoration will recognize these "forgotten"heroes.

Ironically, the last smallpox case occurred in a hospital workerwho escorted another smallpox patient to the hospital in Merca,Somalia. The hospital worker survived and is recognized as the lasthero of this unprecedented achievement in medicine and publichealth.

"There are many health workers around the world whose dedication,perseverance and plain hard work eradicated smallpox from theircountries" says Dr. Margaret Chan, director general of the WHO. "Itis time that the worlds institutions pause to honor theircontributions to this unprecedented achievement in public health"

The secretariat also will focus on documenting the history ofsmallpox eradication in printed and visual media and will host aninternational scientific symposium examining the legacy of smallpoxeradication. All commemoration activities will be privately funded. Related Links Source
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