Learning from Smallpox: How to Eradicate a Disease

This TED-Ed lesson includes a focus on disease eradication efforts, such as smallpox ("the first and only human disease to be permanently eliminated [in 1980, after decades of global efforts, including household visits]") and polio, which, according to this lesson, has involved efforts that have prevented 13 million cases of paralysis and 650,000 deaths since 1980 - so: 99% prevention since the eradication process began.

The lesson features:

• a video detailing how the story of smallpox shows how disease eradication can happen and why it is so difficult to achieve. This video could be used as a communication tool (see below). One communication-centred strategy shared is that polio teams, when going door to door, beyond eradicating specific diseases, have joined the global community in working together to help improve health infrastructure. (Resources from the Nigeria polio team helped control Ebola, according to the video).
• a quiz
• links to additional resources
• a guided discussion - one question of which is: "Some argue that polio eradication efforts should be abandoned to focus instead on disease control through routine immunization. What are some arguments for or against polio eradication?"