Political Quotes

“while my colleagues and I were back home in Ohio, Michigan, Arizona or Florida over the last number of weeks, this country lost one of the heroes in the fight to eradicate smallpox: Lakewood, OH, native and Oberlin College graduate Dr. Donald Henderson. Dr. Henderson passed away at age 87 on August 19. He left behind perhaps the most important public health legacy of anyone in the 20th century. Along with Dr. William Foege, who is still alive and still very active, Dr. Henderson helped lead the war on humankind's most feared diseases and achieved one of the greatest public health victories ever--very arguably maybe the most important public health victory--the eradication of smallpox. Most Americans are too young to remember the fear that smallpox struck in the hearts of people around the globe. Because of the work of literally 150,000 workers--paid workers and volunteers, thousands and thousands, tens of thousands of public health workers--fewer and fewer of us bear the scars on our upper arms that serve as a reminder of the danger this disease once posed. In the 20th Century, it is estimated that more than 300 million people died of smallpox. Think of that. More than 300 million people died of smallpox--at least. Some estimates are as high as 500 million. The numbers aren't particularly precise, putting it mildly, because of where the deaths occurred and how they occurred and what people were dying of in addition to smallpox.…”