Members of the Global Commission for the Certification of Smallpox Eradication, Geneva, 9 December 1979

The WHO smallpox eradication campaign was launched in its intensified form in 1967, and in four years had wiped out smallpox in Latin America. Four more years toppled the disease's last bastion in Asia. The multi-national teams closed in on Somalia, scene of "the last stand". The eradication of smallpox from the world was certified by the Global Commission, an independent panel of scientists drawn from 19 nations, in December 1979 at WHO Headquarters, Geneva.

Members of the Global Commission for the Certification of Smallpox Eradication, Geneva, 9 December 1979. Left to right, front row: Dr Svetlana S. Marennikova (USSR), Dr Jesus C. Azurin (Philippines), Dr Pyotr N. Burgasov (USSR), Dr Frank J. Fenner (Australia), Dr Jan Kostrzewski (Poland), Dr Donald A. Henderson (USA), Dr Wilfred Koinange Karuga (Kenya), Dr Zhang Yi-hao (China); left to right, back row: Dr Paul F. Wehrle (USA), Dr Rabinder N. Basu (India), Dr Jalal M. Aashi (Saudi Arabia), Dr Holger B. Lundbeck (Sweden), Dr Bichat A. Rodrigues (Brazil), Dr Keith R. Dumbell (United Kingdom), Dr Robert Netter (France), Dr Isamu Tagaya (Japan), Dr J. Simon Moeti (Botswana), Dr Kalisa Ruti (Zaïre), Dr Purushollam N. Shrestha (Nepal), Dr Abdullahi Deria (Somalia).