I AM A COLLEGE STUDENT, NO PLAGERISM PLEASE AND DO THIS ASSIGNMENT CORRECTLY.
Environmental Health Concerns 4808
Project #4
In class we discussed how the eradication of smallpox was a milestone in public health. For the first time
in history, man not only eradicated a disease but had the potential to eradicate the cause. Total
elimination of a disease producing agent was “at hand”.
We also discussed the structure and function of the World Health Organization (WHO) as an international
health agency whose many activities include proposing regulations and agreements between member
nations.
We learned that the WHO was instrumental in spearheading a convention of virologists of member
nations that targeted the destruction of the remaining cultures of the smallpox virus, which were located at
only two locations in the world—-the United States and Russia. At the May 1999 meeting of the WHO it
was agreed that these cultures would be destroyed on June 30, 1999. This theoretically would “end” the
threat of smallpox worldwide forever.
That date has come and gone and ironically today we face the threat from a disease that the WHO
declared eradicated in 1980. How could this happen? What decisions were made by the WHO
subsequent to its May 1999 meeting that has caused us such great concern in this millennium?
READING ASSIGNMENTS 2A AND 2B are reports from the agenda of the WHO at its May 1999
meeting and April 2002 Meeting that describe decisions that were made by the WHO in regard to
Smallpox destruction.
Your assignment—–You are a writer for a major newspaper with nation-wide circulation. Recent events
have the American people concerned about a potential smallpox outbreak. In fact many leading health
agencies in the United States are proposing mass inoculations, beginning with health care workers against
the smallpox virus—-a virus that many people remember as being eradicated over twenty-five years ago.
You are assigned to prepare an article explaining the American people why this virus is still a worldwide
threat. You have been asked to give an historical perspective of events that have caused us to come to
this point in history and to either justify or refute the decisions that were made by the WHO and other
agencies that delayed the destruction of the remaining cultures of the smallpox virus, which conceivably
could have eliminated the current threat.
Reading assignments 2A and 2B should get you started but feel free to supplement your article with any
factual information that you can obtain from other sources. Remember you are a news reporter whose
job is to give a historical perspective to the readers as to what events gave rise to the current situation.
You are also giving your personal opinion as to whether decisions that were made were in the best interest
of global public health. Is anyone to blame? Is the current situation that we find ourselves in
unavoidable? Your article should take on the style of a newspaper article. It should be about three
(3) full newspaper columns long. Remember that all of your sources should be documented in the style of
news reporters. Most news reporters will make statements like, “According to …..” or “As stated in….”
