• To commemorate the 40th Anniversary of smallpox eradication, the UN Postal Administration and WHO released a commemorative postage stamp to recognize global solidarity in fighting smallpox.

Background:

• In May 1980, the 33rd World Health Assembly issued its official declaration that "the world and all its peoples have won freedom from smallpox."
• It was ended on the back of a 10-year WHO-spearheaded global effort that involved thousands of health workers around the world to administer half a billion vaccinations to stamp out smallpox.
• When WHO''s smallpox eradication campaign was launched in 1967, one of the ways countries raised awareness about smallpox was through postage stamps – when social media like Twitter and Facebook was not even on the horizon.

What was Smallpox?

• Smallpox was a serious infectious disease caused by the variola virus.
• It was contagious—meaning, it spread from one person to another. People who had smallpox had a fever and a distinctive, progressive skin rash.