Multifaceted contributions: health workers and smallpox eradication in India

TY - JOUR

T1 - Multifaceted contributions

T2 - ‘The United Nations and International and Global Health’

AU - Bhattacharya, Sanjoy

N1 - This article is based on research carried out through a Wellcome Trust-funded project

PY - 2008/5

Y1 - 2008/5

N2 - Smallpox eradication in South Asia was a result of the efforts of many grades of health-workers. Working from within the confines of international organisations and government structures, the role of the field officials, who were of various nationalities and also drawn from the cities and rural enclaves of the countries in these regions, was crucial to the development and deployment of policies. However, the role of these personnel is often downplayed in official histories and academic histories, which highlight instead the roles played by a handful of senior officials within the World Health Organization and the federal governments in the sub-continent. This article attempts to provide a more rounded assessment of the complex situation in the field. In this regard, an effort is made to underline the great usefulness of the operational flexibility displayed by field officers, wherein lessons learnt in the field were made an integral part of deploying local campaigns; careful engagement with the communities being targeted, as well as the employment of short term workers from amongst them, was an important feature of this work.

AB - Smallpox eradication in South Asia was a result of the efforts of many grades of health-workers. Working from within the confines of international organisations and government structures, the role of the field officials, who were of various nationalities and also drawn from the cities and rural enclaves of the countries in these regions, was crucial to the development and deployment of policies. However, the role of these personnel is often downplayed in official histories and academic histories, which highlight instead the roles played by a handful of senior officials within the World Health Organization and the federal governments in the sub-continent. This article attempts to provide a more rounded assessment of the complex situation in the field. In this regard, an effort is made to underline the great usefulness of the operational flexibility displayed by field officers, wherein lessons learnt in the field were made an integral part of deploying local campaigns; careful engagement with the communities being targeted, as well as the employment of short term workers from amongst them, was an important feature of this work.

KW - Smallpox eradication

KW - South East Asia Regional Office of the World Health Organization

KW - Immunisation

KW - Vaccination

KW - World Health Organization

U2 - 10.1590/S1413-81232008000300017

DO - 10.1590/S1413-81232008000300017

M3 - Article

SN - 1413-8123

VL - 13

SP - 955

EP - 964

JO - Ciencia & saude coletiva

JF - Ciencia & saude coletiva

IS - 3

Y2 - 10 July 2007 through 12 July 2007

ER -