ERADICATING AND ELIMINATING INFECTIOUS DISEASES: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Monday, 27th of October 2014

[source]Indian Journal of Public Health[|source]

What lessons can be learnt from smallpox eradication or which other eradication or elimination programmes can be applied to other programmes? Some key lessons include the need to understand the epidemiology and transmission of the disease before targeting it for eradication; the presence of effective tools for diagnosis, treatment and prevention; knowledge of the social, cultural and political factors which may vary from area to area; and the availability of a clear and well thought out strategy. 

In this paper, the authors look into the future of disease eradication and raise issues and challenges that ought to be considered in determination of next targeted diseases.  Beyond biological feasibility, the authors raise questions on definitions used, agreements on a set of principles that guide eradication strategy, the endpoints that should be used to declare disease eradication and a pre-defined criteria for determination of elimination/eradication candidate diseases. Detailed discussion on these pertinent issues and conclusions are accessible in full text at: http://www.ijph.in/article.asp?issn=0019-557X;year=2011;volume=55;issue=2;spage=81;epage=87;aulast=Narain

 

ABSTRACT

During the past 60 years, a number of infectious diseases have been targeted for eradication or elimination, with mixed results. While smallpox is the only one successfully eradicated so far, campaigns on yaws and malaria brought about a dramatic reduction in the incidence in the beginning of the campaign but ultimately could not achieve the desired goal. There is again a renewed interest in disease eradication. The World Health assembly in May 2010 passed a resolution calling for eradication of measles by 2015; the target of polio eradication still remains elusive. In view of these developments, it is appropriate time to revisit the concept of disease eradication and elimination, the achievements and failures of past eradication programmes and reasons thereof, and possibly apply these lessons while planning for the future activities. This paper based on the Dr. A.L.Saha Memorial Oration describes various infectious diseases that have been targeted for eradication replica breitling horloges or elimination since 1950s, the potential direct and indirect benefits from disease eradication, and the issues and opportunities for the future.