1959 AD–1980 AD
Smallpox eradication programme
Epidemics & public health · Viruela · Vacunación · Surveillance · Erradicación
WHO began a smallpox-eradication programme in 1959 and intensified it in 1967, combining vaccination, case finding, and contact containment. The last known natural case occurred in Somalia in 1977, and the World Health Assembly declared eradication in 1980; the result depended on sustained local and international work, not the vaccine in isolation.
Precision, calendar, and review
- Start
- year · no uncertainty qualifier in this record
- End
- year · no uncertainty qualifier in this record
- Calendar and convention
- Historical-era years; the source calendar is not identified. No conversion of days is assumed.
- Year zero
- The scale goes from 1 BCE to 1 CE without year zero. Changing era names changes labels only.
- Documentary review
- Date not recorded
Reading the date: duration of a process.
Sources
- www.who.int (opens in a new tab)
Source provenance and scope
- Publication date
- Not identified in metadata; document review pending
- Bibliographic date checked
- 2026-09-23
The correspondence between this reference and individual claims has not yet been itemized.
This record is an editorial synthesis. Consult the sources to check claims and their limits. Chronological relationships alone do not establish causation.