Abstract
Histories of the global smallpox eradication programme and its national chapters have tended to concentrate on the larger national formations in Africa and Asia. This focus is generally justified by chroniclers by the fact that these locations contributed a major share of the world's annual tally of variola, which meant that international agencies paid a lot of attention to working with officials in national and local government on anti-smallpox campaigns in these territories. Such historiographical trends have led to the marginalisation of the histories of smallpox eradication programmes in smaller nations, which are either presented in heroic, institutional tropes as peripheral or as being largely shorn of sustained campaigns against the disease. Using the case study of Bhutan, a small Himalayan kingdom sandwiched between India and China, an effort is made to reclaim the historical experiences inside small national entities in the worldwide smallpox eradication programme. Bhutan’s experience in the 1960s and 1970s allows much more in addition. It provides us with a better understanding of the limited powers of international agencies in areas considered politically sensitive by the governments of powerful nations such as India. The resulting methodological suggestions are of wider historical and historiographical relevance.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 461-486 |
| Number of pages | 26 |
| Journal | Medical History |
| Volume | 57 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 23 Sept 2013 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2013 |
Bibliographical note
Published on a Gold Open Access basis, under a CC BY licence arrangement. It will be freely available through Cambridge University Press journal platforms and Pub Med Central.Keywords
- Bhutan
- World Health Organization
- Smallpox eradication
- Vaccination
- International Health
- India