15 12 2286 https://www.globalhealthchronicles.org/files/original/57f30276ad8374badaea84a1d6077a56.jpg cc92575fa517933d6ede155d07ce5862 Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. Bit Depth 8 Channels 3 Height 1022 Width 1363 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Smallpox Description An account of the resource <div class="landing"> <p>Smallpox disease was declared eradicated in 1980, the result of a collaborative global campaign. To date, it is the only disease affecting humans to be eradicated from the world. Global eradication of smallpox ranks among the great achievements of humankind. Gone, through determined human effort, is a disease which has brought death to millions, frequently altering the course of history, and traveling through the centuries to every part of the world.  </p> <p>The vital contributions made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are highlighted. Official government correspondence, meeting transcripts, policy statements, surveillance reports and mortality statistics tell a part of that story. Adding depth to these traditional archives are the personal stories of the public health pioneers who worked tirelessly on the frontlines of the smallpox eradication campaign.</p> <p>The links above connect you to a database of oral histories, photographs, documents, and other media.</p> <p>Use of this information is free, but please see <strong>“About this Site”</strong> for guidance on how to acknowledge the sources of the information used</p> </div> Photographs A static visual representation. 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Gone, through determined human effort, is a disease which has brought death to millions, frequently altering the course of history, and traveling through the centuries to every part of the world.  </p> <p>The vital contributions made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are highlighted. Official government correspondence, meeting transcripts, policy statements, surveillance reports and mortality statistics tell a part of that story. Adding depth to these traditional archives are the personal stories of the public health pioneers who worked tirelessly on the frontlines of the smallpox eradication campaign.</p> <p>The links above connect you to a database of oral histories, photographs, documents, and other media.</p> <p>Use of this information is free, but please see <strong>“About this Site”</strong> for guidance on how to acknowledge the sources of the information used</p> </div> Photographs A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. 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Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Type The nature or genre of the resource photographs digital images still image Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1966-1970 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/159hc emory:159hc Subject The topic of the resource CDC Smallpox Eradication USAID WHO People Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 188326 bytes image/jpeg Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Charter, Russ (Photographer); CDC Title A name given to the resource VACCINATION – Chad Description An account of the resource A color photograph of people waiting in line to receive their smallpox vaccinations in Mandelia, Chad. Language A language of the resource No Linguistic Content https://www.globalhealthchronicles.org/files/original/42da199bb1e6395fa014d72729e506fc.jpg 71972f1460e2e3e04b9f186e738c1bb8 Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. Bit Depth 8 Channels 3 Height 1022 Width 1363 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Smallpox Description An account of the resource <div class="landing"> <p>Smallpox disease was declared eradicated in 1980, the result of a collaborative global campaign. To date, it is the only disease affecting humans to be eradicated from the world. Global eradication of smallpox ranks among the great achievements of humankind. 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Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Type The nature or genre of the resource photographs digital images still image Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1966-1970 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/159jh emory:159jh Subject The topic of the resource CDC Smallpox Eradication USAID WHO Culture Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 258997 bytes image/jpeg Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Charter, Russ (Photographer); CDC Title A name given to the resource MOUNDOU MARKET – Chad Description An account of the resource A color photograph of Moundou Market in Chad. Language A language of the resource No Linguistic Content https://www.globalhealthchronicles.org/files/original/8538e51fad0b193523c92b991f1f4a9f.jpg 61803bfce28da78b342d55052962622f Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. Bit Depth 8 Channels 3 Height 1704 Width 2272 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Smallpox Description An account of the resource <div class="landing"> <p>Smallpox disease was declared eradicated in 1980, the result of a collaborative global campaign. To date, it is the only disease affecting humans to be eradicated from the world. Global eradication of smallpox ranks among the great achievements of humankind. Gone, through determined human effort, is a disease which has brought death to millions, frequently altering the course of history, and traveling through the centuries to every part of the world.  </p> <p>The vital contributions made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are highlighted. Official government correspondence, meeting transcripts, policy statements, surveillance reports and mortality statistics tell a part of that story. Adding depth to these traditional archives are the personal stories of the public health pioneers who worked tirelessly on the frontlines of the smallpox eradication campaign.</p> <p>The links above connect you to a database of oral histories, photographs, documents, and other media.</p> <p>Use of this information is free, but please see <strong>“About this Site”</strong> for guidance on how to acknowledge the sources of the information used</p> </div> Photographs A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Type The nature or genre of the resource photographs digital images still image Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1966-1970 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/159kn emory:159kn Subject The topic of the resource CDC Smallpox Eradication USAID WHO Culture Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 2183747 bytes image/jpeg Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Charter, Russ (Photographer); CDC Title A name given to the resource DANCING – Chad Description An account of the resource A color photograph of women dancing in Dijmtelos, Chad. Language A language of the resource No Linguistic Content https://www.globalhealthchronicles.org/files/original/ed5dd9da980225c3de26c1ffa695f7c9.jpg 910a6b00fc721392c3b3ffe7ba6a3627 Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. Bit Depth 8 Channels 3 Height 864 Width 1312 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Smallpox Description An account of the resource <div class="landing"> <p>Smallpox disease was declared eradicated in 1980, the result of a collaborative global campaign. To date, it is the only disease affecting humans to be eradicated from the world. Global eradication of smallpox ranks among the great achievements of humankind. Gone, through determined human effort, is a disease which has brought death to millions, frequently altering the course of history, and traveling through the centuries to every part of the world.  </p> <p>The vital contributions made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are highlighted. Official government correspondence, meeting transcripts, policy statements, surveillance reports and mortality statistics tell a part of that story. Adding depth to these traditional archives are the personal stories of the public health pioneers who worked tirelessly on the frontlines of the smallpox eradication campaign.</p> <p>The links above connect you to a database of oral histories, photographs, documents, and other media.</p> <p>Use of this information is free, but please see <strong>“About this Site”</strong> for guidance on how to acknowledge the sources of the information used</p> </div> Photographs A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Type The nature or genre of the resource photographs digital images still image Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1967 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/159p2 emory:159p2 Subject The topic of the resource CDC Culture USAID WHO People Smallpox Eradication Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 157533 bytes image/jpeg Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Charter, Russ (Photographer); CDC Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Reunion of West and Central African Smallpox workers (CDC, 2006) Title A name given to the resource HONOR GUARD – Chad Description An account of the resource A color photograph of the Nomadic Honor Guard in Om Chalouba, Chad. Language A language of the resource No Linguistic Content https://www.globalhealthchronicles.org/files/original/9a28665edb32da1e86bcbba098f7c788.jpg 7eb6b9f95ef3f1e10f4c59fa13ac3fc1 Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. Bit Depth 8 Channels 3 Height 5280 Width 3522 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Smallpox Description An account of the resource <div class="landing"> <p>Smallpox disease was declared eradicated in 1980, the result of a collaborative global campaign. To date, it is the only disease affecting humans to be eradicated from the world. Global eradication of smallpox ranks among the great achievements of humankind. Gone, through determined human effort, is a disease which has brought death to millions, frequently altering the course of history, and traveling through the centuries to every part of the world.  </p> <p>The vital contributions made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are highlighted. Official government correspondence, meeting transcripts, policy statements, surveillance reports and mortality statistics tell a part of that story. Adding depth to these traditional archives are the personal stories of the public health pioneers who worked tirelessly on the frontlines of the smallpox eradication campaign.</p> <p>The links above connect you to a database of oral histories, photographs, documents, and other media.</p> <p>Use of this information is free, but please see <strong>“About this Site”</strong> for guidance on how to acknowledge the sources of the information used</p> </div> Photographs A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Type The nature or genre of the resource photographs digital images still image Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1966-1970 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/15b3t emory:15b3t Subject The topic of the resource Smallpox Eradication USAID WHO CDC Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 6689889 bytes image/jpeg Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Charter, Russ (Photographer); CDC Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Reunion of West and Central African Smallpox workers (CDC, 2006) Title A name given to the resource MALARIA SCREENING – Chad Description An account of the resource A color photograph of a vaccination team member screening for malaria by checking the size of a child’s spleen in Chad. Language A language of the resource No Linguistic Content https://www.globalhealthchronicles.org/files/original/a661fea7dee214a20ea9e7271f5ef133.jpg 7cde4355f210715732bf6ac981f302e1 https://www.globalhealthchronicles.org/files/original/e327786249e1e9de0297f0448fc8d2fc.pdf 9319854875dbb7a21d3da048a4012eab Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Smallpox Description An account of the resource <div class="landing"> <p>Smallpox disease was declared eradicated in 1980, the result of a collaborative global campaign. To date, it is the only disease affecting humans to be eradicated from the world. Global eradication of smallpox ranks among the great achievements of humankind. Gone, through determined human effort, is a disease which has brought death to millions, frequently altering the course of history, and traveling through the centuries to every part of the world.  </p> <p>The vital contributions made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are highlighted. Official government correspondence, meeting transcripts, policy statements, surveillance reports and mortality statistics tell a part of that story. Adding depth to these traditional archives are the personal stories of the public health pioneers who worked tirelessly on the frontlines of the smallpox eradication campaign.</p> <p>The links above connect you to a database of oral histories, photographs, documents, and other media.</p> <p>Use of this information is free, but please see <strong>“About this Site”</strong> for guidance on how to acknowledge the sources of the information used</p> </div> Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound. <pre><strong> Interview Transcript </strong> This is an interview with Anthony R. Masso on July 14, 2006, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, about his involvement with the West African Smallpox Eradication Project. The interview is being conducted as part of a reunion marking the 40th anniversary of the launch of the program. The interviewer is Kata Chillag. Chillag: So, what we want to hear is any stories. We have a series of issues we'll want to cover, but it's a bit loose. So, the first is, how did you come to public health as a career? Masso: I was in the Peace Corps for several years before joining the Smallpox Eradication Program. I saw a piece in the Bulletin that CDC [Centers for Disease Control] and the World Health Organization (WHO) were about to launch a smallpox eradication- measles control program in Africa. I was interested in continuing my international experience, learning another language, and doing something good. So I decided to send in an application. I also thought it was a good thing to do in the '60s instead of going to Vietnam. After my application went in, I was interviewed by D. A. Henderson [Donald A. Henderson], the WHO Director at that time. We met in Washington, DC, in a bar, and over a couple of beers he said, "Hey, listen, you're great for the program. Come and join us," and that was it. Chillag: Where had you been in the Peace Corps? Masso: In Latin America. So it was a completely different experience to go from Panama in Latin America to Africa. Chillag : And where were you in Africa? Masso: Niger. Chillag : And so, what was your role in the smallpox program? Masso: My role was to be the operations officer along with a medical officer, Don Moore [Donald J. Moore]. Together, we formed the team of about 16 West African health workers, all male. The West African health workers, the nurses, were men; no women. It was a Muslim country. I'm sure that's the reason. And with about 25 trucks, our job was to go throughout the entire country and make sure everyone got vaccinated and to contain any outbreak that we saw. Chillag : What were your expectations of the work? Masso: Well, there was no real expectation other than knowing that it was hard work and that the conditions would not be good. I had lived in the United States, a privileged citizen with all the modern conveniences. And even as a Peace Corps volunteer, although there were no real conveniences, Panama had a lush environment, with greenery and the ocean. To go to a desert country, Niger, the size of Texas and California combined, with a hundred miles of paved road in the entire country and virtually all desert and mountain, and to see people live at the edge of existence was quite a different experience completely. There was no way to prepare for that. Our training was mostly to learn French and to study epidemiology, but it didn't prepare us for the life in that country. Chillag : And what were you most prepared for? You mentioned the sort of people living at the edge of existence. Masso: Well, we were prepared to do the work. We knew what we were there for, so from a technical point of view, we knew how to operate the equipment, how to maintain the vaccines, how to map out each town we were going to for vaccination. I remember one of my first impressions was seeing people living as they did 2,000 years ago, during the time of the Bible. You saw people literally with no more than one little clay pot and a little fire and a few seeds. and certainly no meat or anything-there are no conveniences at all-moving from place to place on the back of a donkey. I mean, it was exactly the way the world was 2,000 years ago. And many parts of that country are like that today. So there's very, very little progress. The country is exceptionally poor, large and vast, no real resources, no real agriculture. There's almost no rainfall. I remember many times I'd say to myself, people shouldn't be living in places like this. Not very hospitable. But our job was to contain the disease and wipe it out over a period of a couple of years, which we did, of course. Chillag : What were your specific living conditions? Masso: Our personal living conditions were good because we were attached to the American Embassy, and they gave us a small ranch- style house with a couple of bedrooms and a kitchen. We had air- conditioning, we had nice furniture, which was brought in just for the smallpox program. We had a car for our family as well as a truck that we would use for our work. We had servants, a houseboy. That was the norm. So the living conditions weren't bad at all. We were all young, and we didn't care that much to have super luxury. Chillag : And you traveled around the country. Masso: We traveled around the entire country. We worked so hard. We would try to schedule the trips to go to look at certain villages to see if smallpox was still rampant. Don and I would try to schedule a trip on a Thursday or toward the end of the week so we could travel and do the work outside the capital city on the weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, then come back during the beginning of the week to do anything we needed to do back at the health ministry. It was an arduous type activity because we'd be out for sometimes days at a time, and on big long trips, sometimes a couple of weeks at a time away from home, with no communications, no cell phones, no faxes, no telephones. When we were gone, we were really gone. Chillag : And you were there with your wife too. Masso: I was there with my wife. She was pregnant when we arrived. We had 2 children born to us while we were in Africa, which was a little bit unusual, although not too unusual. There were several people who had children there. And it was because we were young and we had both been in the Peace Corps that we were able to endure the conditions. But even others who hadn't had a prior international experience did fine. Being young and well motivated, I think I always rolled with the punches. Chillag : You had to work, I'm sure, with lots of local partners. What was that like? Masso: Well, the work with local partners was mostly frustrating because what you expect in a counterpart in a country like that is different from what reality is. Their motivation, especially at the higher echelons, was how to do the minimal amount of work and take a lot of credit, and they just didn't have the drive that we did. We were very focused on what we had to get done. Now, on the local level, with the people who worked "under us," who were the health nurses, it was completely different. I mean, we'd get up at a 4:30 AM, 5 o'clock in the morning and we were off. We would travel all day long, 12 or 14 hours, to get to a location. We'd work all night setting up camp. These people, the vaccination teams, would go out in the worst of conditions to perform the vaccinations. So they would work very hard and very long with meager pay and meager food available to them. But at the Ministry of Health, where the bureaucrats were, it was completely the opposite. They just saw this as a free ticket for them. Chillag : Was there general receptivity at a government level to the program as a whole? Masso: Yes, there was. These countries really are developing or Third World countries, and they knew that the United States was coming in with lots of equipment, lots of money, talented Americans, to "give them something" that they wanted and needed to improve their health. But it was also free, and so they were very receptive to opening their doors and getting the equipment and the opportunity to do something in public health. We encountered no resistance to our work at all from any government leaders or local chieftains. We were there to do good, and they knew it. Chillag : Were there any particular cultural differences that were very striking to you or very challenging to you in living there? Masso: Well, I remember having learned in the history of medicine that the little lighted, red-and-blue swirly cone with a white background that you still see today outside of barber shops, symbolized blood. Because the old barbers were blood letters, even in Europe and in this country, 150 years ago. When a person was really sick, they would let out blood. I had thought this was a practice that you only read about in history. When we got there, sure enough, there were practitioners right outside our office-a modern office with maps on the wall and vaccines that came from the States and the latest in hydraulic vaccination equipment. There would be people out there paying some practitioner to cut their backs or their arms and put suction devices on them to pull blood out. They thought if they were being bled, it would cure them of a headache or a stomachache or whatever it was. So that was a weird practice. There are a lot of Muslim practices that were unusual: the feast of Ramadan, where they'd fast every day for 40 days and not eat until sundown; slaughtering of animals in a ritualistic Islamic way; preparing sheep, kind of skewered, spread-eagled, which is called mishlee [phonetic], roasting the sheep. So we saw plenty of unusual practices. But after a while, they just became part of life. We didn't see them as strange; we saw them as part of their culture. And I think that's the way it's supposed to be. Chillag : What do you think was the biggest challenge about the work? Masso: I think the biggest challenge for us was the logistics. It was unbelievably difficult. We were forced to use American Dodge trucks, which was unfortunate because we should have been using Land Rovers. The trucks broke down frequently; axles would break. It got so bad that we'd have axles air-freighted in from Detroit to Niger at a humongous cost just because we had to use American equipment. And Niger was not like the coastal countries, like Ghana or Nigeria, where you drove on paved roads. We were in mountainous dirt-road locations, with these trucks that just wouldn't keep up. So the logistics of that, plus moving the vaccine around, keeping measles vaccine refrigerated where there was no refrigeration, was a big problem. And getting around the country, I mean, the size of Texas and California combined, with a small team and doing all of that in a couple-year period was very challenging. But, nonetheless, we got it done. Chillag : Yes. What were the biggest rewards? Masso: Well, the reward was very simple. I didn't realize that, in a couple of years, we would actually be able to see that there was no more smallpox in the whole country, and that was phenomenally rewarding. I can remember being out under the desert skies with a team of African male health workers, and we looked up at the stars. That was about the time, by the way, when we first went to the moon, the late '60s; '69 was the first moon landing. And I remember saying, "Look at those stars and look at the moon." The American space program was going up there. And here we are, and we're going to do something just as important. We're going to wipe a disease off the face of the earth. And we're not alone, you know; like that big sky, those stars are not alone; we're not alone. We are in each of 20 West African countries doing the same thing, and if we all do our job, we'll see it removed from Africa as a disease. That was tremendously rewarding to be able to say that to those people, to believe it, and then to leave when it was all done. Chillag : Has that affected the choices you've made afterwards, your career and your personal life? Masso: Well, certainly. I think what it's done to me as a person was to realize that there's no hardship you cannot endure. There's no obstacle that you can't surmount. There could be nothing tougher. You can be successful at something if you put your mind to it, if you work hard at it, and if you've got the tools to do it. CDC gave us tremendous tools to work with. And I don't mean just physical tools. We had the backing and support that were required to do it. And like the space program or like any other major achievement in history, we were able to get it done, and that leaves you with the sense that you can do almost anything if you have the right approach and the right support. Chillag : I didn't ask anyone else this, but I'm just interested. Did you have any issues coming back to the United States in terms of reintegrating here? Masso: When I came back, I went to Syracuse, New York, where there was 157 inches of snow that first winter. And, of course, when you leave a country which is 120°F in the shade, not unusual in the Sahara, and you come to New York, you get the climate difference. But the bigger difference wasn't that. It was that after 3-1/2 years of living like this in Africa, getting back into modern society doesn't seem real. The United States was now not real. Africa was real. Speaking French and speaking dialects were real. The superficiality of normal American suburban life, which is what we came back to, seemed like a movie, and Africa, then, was the real place, where at first it had seemed just the opposite. So the biggest cultural change was readjusting, which, of course, we were able to do after 6 months or a year or so. Chillag : Do you think there's anything else that it's important for people to know about the endeavor? Masso: I think that the most important thing for people to know is that it's unusual for the USAID [US Agency for International Development] program, or for any type of American foreign aid, to be looked at as being very successful. But I think CDC leadership in Atlanta and the people they were recruiting were uniquely able to demonstrate to the world that you could say we have a goal of eradicating a disease, and spend a modest amount of money doing it, and be tremendously successful in accomplishing it. I think that's a once-in-a-lifetime activity. The legacy is certainly something that we should all be proud of. People who listen to these tapes or people who see what's been done should realize that it was accomplished by normal people under abnormal conditions, but with exceptional leadership and dedication on the part of everyone. Chillag : Well, thank you very much. Masso: Thank you very much, Kata. # # # </pre> Player html for embedded player to stream video content <iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/310130241&amp;color=ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="166"></iframe> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Type The nature or genre of the resource sound recording - nonmusical interviews Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2006-07-14 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/158r7 emory:158r7 Subject The topic of the resource CDC Smallpox Eradication USAID WHO Operations Officer Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 175409808 bytes audio/x-aiff Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Chillag, Kata (Interviewer); CDC; Anthropologist Masso, Tony (Interviewee); CDC; Operations Officer Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Centers for Disease Control Title A name given to the resource MASSO, TONY Description An account of the resource Tony Masso, Operations Officer was assigned to Niger. Tony relates his impressions of Niger, working in the field and with Ministry of Health officials, cultural differences, and the greatest challenges and rewards of his time spent in Niger. Tony notes, "People who listen to these tapes or people who see what's been done should realize that it was accomplished by normal people under abnormal conditions, but with exceptional leadership and dedication on the part of everyone." Language A language of the resource English https://www.globalhealthchronicles.org/files/original/a9f3467b7db2391364bee10ac5687a6d.jpg 12d6c00d1ea77ebb7d729b86916fc2ed https://www.globalhealthchronicles.org/files/original/fe408524bbac2714bd3af07fabbfb22d.pdf e2dc6b2f07dfdc5accb0f12094f47f38 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Smallpox Description An account of the resource <div class="landing"> <p>Smallpox disease was declared eradicated in 1980, the result of a collaborative global campaign. To date, it is the only disease affecting humans to be eradicated from the world. Global eradication of smallpox ranks among the great achievements of humankind. Gone, through determined human effort, is a disease which has brought death to millions, frequently altering the course of history, and traveling through the centuries to every part of the world.  </p> <p>The vital contributions made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are highlighted. Official government correspondence, meeting transcripts, policy statements, surveillance reports and mortality statistics tell a part of that story. Adding depth to these traditional archives are the personal stories of the public health pioneers who worked tirelessly on the frontlines of the smallpox eradication campaign.</p> <p>The links above connect you to a database of oral histories, photographs, documents, and other media.</p> <p>Use of this information is free, but please see <strong>“About this Site”</strong> for guidance on how to acknowledge the sources of the information used</p> </div> Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound. <pre><strong> Interview Transcript </strong> This is an interview with Leo Morris about his activities in the West Africa Smallpox Eradication Program. His wife, Jane Morris, is also present. The interview is being conducted at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on July 14, 2006. This is during the 40th anniversary celebration of the launching of the Smallpox Eradication Program. The interviewer is Kata Chillag. Chillag: How did you come to choose public health as a career? Morris: It was a bit serendipitous. My background is statistics, and I was studying statistics at the University of Florida. Usually every summer, I went home to Miami to work, usually in the hotels, to get money to go back to school the next fall. But during my junior and senior year, I thought I'd better get some experience. The Public Health Service had a traineeship program for statisticians, and 1 other person and I were selected from the University of Florida. Our assignments were just random. He got assigned to the Department of Agriculture, which turned out to be pretty boring, he tells me; and I got assigned to the Tuberculosis Program, Public Health Service, before it was transferred to CDC. After that summer, they asked if I'd consider coming back after graduation. And I might add, in those days-'59, late '50s- a statistician, even one with just a bachelor's degree, was in great demand. There just weren't many around. And I said, "Well, you know, I'd like to stay closer to Florida," and they told me about CDC. The Serfling-Sherman Polio Immunization Surveys were being conducted then, so CDC was looking for statisticians. So they recommended me to CDC, and there I was. Chillag: And so, how did you get tracked into smallpox eradication? Morris: I started out in the Polio Surveillance Unit, when we had cases of polio in the United States. I worked in that unit for 3 years in the EIS [Epidemic Intelligence Service]. Then Dr. Langmuir [Alexander Langmuir] supported me for employee development, and I left and got my Ph.D. at Michigan, where our first child was born. (The first was born in Michigan where I got an MPH in biostatistics in biostatistics, the 2nd in Atlanta, and the 3rd in Brazil,.) Then I worked with D. A. Henderson [Donald A. Henderson], mostly on viral diseases in the Surveillance Section. The Investigations Unit was devoted to bacterial diseases back in those days, with Phil Brachman. I also worked a lot in reviewing material for the MMWR [Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report]. That was '63. I worked on a big St. Louis encephalitis outbreak that year in Houston, Texas. In '65, I worked with Larry Altman. He became the first person to go to West Africa in the measles program in West Africa on a TDY [tour of duty]. We were getting involved in some smallpox work, and I was chosen to be part of it. We had a 5-person team in '65, including Don Millar [J. Donald Millar], who later became head of the Smallpox Unit at CDC, to evaluate the vaccine produced in Brazil. Basically, we were comparing the Wyeth freeze-dried vaccine with the freeze-dried vaccine produced in Brazil. We worked in the Amazon territory of Amapa, which is now a state. We were gone about 5 weeks. When we left here, it was winter. In fact, we had a snow storm, and that day we didn't know whether we were going to get to the airport or not. And there, of course, it was summertime and 100° in Rio de Janeiro before we went up to the Amazon. That was my first trip to Brazil. I did some polio work in Chile and Puerto Rico in 1960 and 1961. I really sort of fell in love with the culture in Brazil, and the people and so forth. That was '65. Then '66 was the start of the smallpox program, so I stood up with D. A. Henderson and others in the original group that started the Smallpox Eradication Program. I was in charge of the statistical end and evaluation. In '66, we trained the first group that went to West and Central Africa. I had interviewed many of the nonphysicians who had applied. Then the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) came to CDC. At that time, Brazil was the only country with endemic smallpox in the Americas. There were some overflow cases into neighboring countries. It was variola minor, not variola major, so it didn't get the publicity of some areas. But PAHO, which is part of WHO [World Health Organization], said they were going to put advisors into Brazil. They had a newly created Smallpox Eradication Program, and they needed a statistician, an evaluation person. They had 3 physicians, 1 from Paraguay, 1 from Peru, who was the team leader, and 1 from Colombia. So I was asked if I might want to go to Brazil. I said, "Where do I sign up?" I was very eager for that. In February of '67, we left for Brazil. And that's how I got to Brazil. I was there 3 years as advisor to the Smallpox Eradication Program after I had participated in sending the first trained group over to West Africa. Chillag: And, Mrs., Morris, how did you feel about that? Mrs. Morris: I loved it. When Leo asked me, "What do you think about going to Brazil?" I said, "When?" Morris: We both learned how to samba. Chillag: Yeah, there you go. So, you mentioned that before the actual smallpox eradication, you did the trial between the 2 vaccines, correct? Morris: In '65. Chillag: In '65. And then, after that, was there a typical day for you as a statistician working on this in Brazil? Morris: Well, we had several primary objectives. I spoke Spanish reasonably well, but I took some Portuguese courses so I could forget my Spanish because it's hard to combine the 2 languages. The director of the program in Brazil was a man named Silva. He had recently retired from being the head of malaria control in all of the Americas at PAHO in Washington and returned back to Brazil. Because of his vast experience, they talked him into taking over this new Smallpox Eradication Program. He was the only one in the office who spoke English. Now if you went up to the Ministry of Health in Brazil, a good percentage of the people spoke English. But he was the only one who spoke it in this office back then in 1967. So on my first day there, we conversed in English, about the surveillance we needed, reporting, and so forth, and then he said to me, "This is the last day I'm going to speak to you in English," and he never spoke to me in English again. So in that environment, it was easy to really improve my Portuguese. We had 3 primary objectives. First was to develop a reporting system, which they didn't have. There were 22 states at that time, and I think only 6 or 7 were reporting cases of smallpox . Sao Paulo, the biggest state, with the most cases, never reported. Starting a surveillance report based on the reporting was the 2nd goal. And the 3rd was to start thinking about evaluation. I had worked on the system that they were going to use in West Africa for evaluating the vaccination program. We wanted to extend it to Brazil, although in Brazil we could be a little more sophisticated because they had better census data to use as a sampling frame. Chillag: When you talk about evaluation of vaccination, what all does that entail? Morris: Two primary things. One would be a sample of villages or towns, sometimes big cities in Brazil, to look at 2 things: 1) asking everybody in the sample households if they had been vaccinated in the campaign; and 2) checking everybody </pre> Player html for embedded player to stream video content <iframe width="100%" height="166" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/310131763%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-OergU&amp;color=ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false" frameborder="no" scrolling="no"></iframe> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Type The nature or genre of the resource sound recording - nonmusical interviews Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2006-01-13 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/158th emory:158th Subject The topic of the resource Smallpox Eradication USAID WHO CDC Surveillance Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 574078512 bytes audio/x-aiff Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Chillag, Kata (Interviewer); CDC; Anthropologist Morris, Leo (Interviewee); CDC; Statistician/Surveillance Officer Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Centers for Disease Control Reunion of West and Central Africa Smallpox workers (2006 : Atlanta, Georgia) Centers for Disease Control Title A name given to the resource MORRIS, LEO AND JANE Description An account of the resource Leo Morris describes the smallpox program in Brazil and the eradication of the disease. Jane Morris relates some of the challenges of life abroad. Leo, was already employed with CDC, and helped interview and train the initial group that went to West Africa. He served as a statistician for the Smallpox Eradication Program in Brazil, which was the only endemic area for smallpox in the Americas. Leo helped develop a smallpox reporting system and surveillance, as well as an evaluation program for the smallpox vaccination campaign. After his time in Brazil, Leo continued his work with surveys and evaluation techniques in the area of reproductive health. Language A language of the resource English https://www.globalhealthchronicles.org/files/original/7caccf7d31d87f29d9254d48fd266cb3.jpg 55676ea7b6bbf7b686871a6a40c769c7 https://www.globalhealthchronicles.org/files/original/5140a423b116905593143d0e2f83bf5d.pdf 0cebed1f61d26318afcf5a7fd2442c2d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Smallpox Description An account of the resource <div class="landing"> <p>Smallpox disease was declared eradicated in 1980, the result of a collaborative global campaign. To date, it is the only disease affecting humans to be eradicated from the world. Global eradication of smallpox ranks among the great achievements of humankind. Gone, through determined human effort, is a disease which has brought death to millions, frequently altering the course of history, and traveling through the centuries to every part of the world.  </p> <p>The vital contributions made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are highlighted. Official government correspondence, meeting transcripts, policy statements, surveillance reports and mortality statistics tell a part of that story. Adding depth to these traditional archives are the personal stories of the public health pioneers who worked tirelessly on the frontlines of the smallpox eradication campaign.</p> <p>The links above connect you to a database of oral histories, photographs, documents, and other media.</p> <p>Use of this information is free, but please see <strong>“About this Site”</strong> for guidance on how to acknowledge the sources of the information used</p> </div> Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound. <pre><strong> Interview Transcript </strong> This is an interview with William J. White, Jr., about his activities in the West Africa Smallpox Eradication Program. The interview is being conducted at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on July 14, 2006. This is during the 40th anniversary celebration of the launching of the Smallpox Eradication Program. The interviewer is Kata Chillag. Chillag: How did you come to public health as a career? White: When I graduated from college, I was looking for a job. During an interview, I was asked, "Do you want to go to New York City and talk to people about sex?" So I went to work for CDC as a Public Health Advisor in the syphilis eradication program in '62, right out of college. Chillag: And how did you come to work in smallpox? White: I had been working for CDC recruiting personnel to work in the venereal disease program. I was getting a little bored, and I went to visit a friend who was at CDC operations in Hartford, Connecticut. He said he had heard that CDC was getting involved in smallpox, in international work. And I said, "Well, that sounds like something really interesting to do." So I put my name forward and said I was interested in being part of the group that was going to be looked at as possible candidates to work overseas. Chillag: Had you worked internationally? White: No. I had not even traveled outside of the continental United States. Chillag: So it was a big change. So, what were your expectations of the work before actually doing it? White: I thought that it was going to be an opportunity to be exposed to a different culture and a different environment. Then the project became more exciting as we went through the training in Atlanta before we went overseas. Chillag: And your role was what? White: I was to be the Operations Officer, based in Conakry, Guinea, but there was a disagreement between USAID [US Agency for International Development] and Guinea about assigning a team to that country. So the next assignment I was offered was in Upper Volta, which is now Burkina Faso, inland from the Ivory Coast . Chillag: And you were paired with a Medical Officer? White: Yes. I was paired with was Chris D'Amanda, who had responsibility as the Medical Officer for both Upper Volta and Ivory Coast. When I found out I was going to Upper Volta, I had a chance to meet and talk with a person who had been a US ambassador to Upper Volta, Thomas Estes. At that point my wife was 6 months pregnant. So we asked Estes, "Can you give us some insight into Ouagadougou, and whether or not it's even possible to think about delivering a child in the hospital there?" and he said, "Oh, yeah, no problem." Fortunately, my daughter was born stateside. Chillag: Did you come back, or you hadn't gone yet? White: No, we hadn't gone yet. It was clear that there was going to be a delay in the assignment and clearances and a whole series of things. There was an interim assignment arranged in Pennsylvania. So our daughter was born in Harrisburg. And then we went from there to West Africa. Chillag: What experiences, skills, and training from the VD program-and it doesn't just have to be that-were most relevant in terms of what you did next in Upper Volta? White: Even though I started off in the venereal disease program, I think that the next step, my assignment in Pennsylvania, was more critical because I was involved in recruiting for CDC on college campuses. The capability of interacting with people in a setting other than just a VD clinic was more useful. But I also think it was just kind of an understanding of what I was interested in at that time. It was the late '60s and getting beyond the United States and looking at international issues seemed to be relevant, at least for the folks that I knew in my generation. Chillag: If there was such a thing, what was a typical day like in your work in Upper Volta? White: Some of it was boring because it was basically office work and staying on top of issues, such as the budget. But other parts were interesting, such as the interaction with the vaccination teams, the development of the training of the teams, making certain that they understood what was expected, tackling issues like where we were going to store vaccine in a country, and looking at the cold chain. I did not understand, when I got in-country, what the issues were going to be in terms of being able to store smallpox and measles vaccine. We wound up having to find a large locker in which to store vaccines, and the only large locker that could keep things cold was at the abattoir, the slaughterhouse. So the vaccine was stored there. So when vaccine came in from the airport, getting it from there to the slaughterhouse was one of the major undertakings of the day. Chillag: And I assume part of your role was to negotiate things like storing it in the slaughterhouse. White: Yes. And that was made easy by being able to negotiate with the French, who really still formed the underpinning for the government agencies and were helpful in some ways, racist and hostile in other ways. I think that they were competitive in some ways with the American team there, but at the same time they wanted to see success with smallpox eradication. Chillag: So the remnants of the French infrastructure, is that who you primarily dealt with? White: No. There were Africans, but the French influence permeated a lot of the areas in the ministries, finance, health, and other agencies. This was in the late '60s, and the underpinnings were very much French. They still subtly controlled what happened in the economy and the government infrastructure, at least in Upper Volta, and, my understanding was, in some of the other francophone countries as well. Chillag: What were some of the challenges in dealing with Africans there? White: In our preparation for going overseas, there was a lot of attention paid to our becoming aware of the vehicles that we were going to be using and the maintenance and operation of those vehicles. Well, as it turned out when I got in-country, you could hire very qualified drivers and mechanics for relatively small dollars, and so it didn't make a whole lot of sense for me to figure out how to repair a Dodge truck. I also had political interactions within the American Embassy as well as within the French structure and with the Voltaic government in general. Chillag: So, starting out with the government in general and the French infrastructure, what were some of the politics that you faced? White: Initially, as I said, there was what I would regard as-jealousy is not quite the word-concern among the French that the Americans were there not just to do the job they were there to do but to basically insert ourselves between the French and the Africans who were ultimately in charge of the country and of the government. Even though there was a president then in Upper Volta, there was always the potential of a revolution. Interaction within the American community was also a concern because when we arrived, my family was located in Ouaga. There was a sense that we were somehow not just with the USA and USAID and not just with the Public Health Service. There was some suspicion that because we had learned some French, we were somehow connected with an agency based in Langley, Virginia. The suspicion was enhanced because our housing was outside of the immediate American compound. The other thing that made it complicated was that, as the smallpox/measles team, we had freedom to go almost anywhere within the country. And that was unusual; other Americans in the country had more limited passage for their visas. Chillag: So, how did you deal with those things? White: Ignored them, basically. I expanded and made changes. I just thought it was kind of funny that I would be considered as linked to the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency]. That connection was not anywhere near where my interests and politics were. So, I mean, it just made it kind of funny and interesting. I think the other challenge was being able to deal with the USAID infrastructure and how they perceived what we were there for-that we were really part of their operation but not quite part of their operation. I generally had a style of ignoring a lot of the paperwork and a lot of things that they were concerned about. My issues were public health issues-dealing with what we needed to do to train the teams, to get the vaccines out there, and to get out to assess outbreaks. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the USAID and embassy bureaucracy. I remember just the complexities of living. When we got there, I have a fairly vivid memory of getting off an airplane at like 5:30 in the morning, having left Harrisburg about 2 days before with a stopover in Paris. When we left the United States, I think it was probably about 30°F. When we got to Upper Volta, it was probably 30°C. I had second thoughts after we got off the plane and got located, and the housing we were supposed to be in wasn't ready yet. I'm thinking, "Wait a minute. My daughter is 6 weeks old, my son is a little over 2. What the hell did I get everybody into?" But then I think that there was a lot of interest in the American community, of seeing that somebody new had come to town. The Americans in-country were welcoming, even though it was a small community. So I think that that was helpful in adapting. But just learning that the electricity was going to out for so many hours, that the water was going to be out for so many hours, and that when the water was on, it was going to be on for a very specified period of time during the hot season- just coping with the living experiences in some ways helped us deal with things there. And we eventually realized, in spite of what former Ambassador Estes had said, that the health service and health options that were available in the community were not first-class or even second-class. Chillag: How did your wife feel with all this? White: I think that initially, she had some anxiety. She was nursing our daughter when we got there, and she had some concern because she had not been successful in nursing our son. But basically it was in some ways more relaxing and less stressful there than it was stateside; so she was able to get comfortable nursing our daughter. I think the next thing was that Claire needed to be able to find something to do, and that was unusual because I think other American wives who were there didn't necessarily feel that way, but Claire did. So she went out and found something connected with the USAID program and was able to work on that part-time. By background and training, she was a teacher, and so she arranged for Africans to come to the States through the African American Institute (which turned out later was funded by the CIA). That gave her a role in activities outside of the home. Both of us came from middle-income backgrounds, so it was ironic that one of the things that we were expected to do was to hire servants. Initially, we balked at that. But it turned out that it was an expected part of being in the community because you were contributing to the economy. So even though we hired a blanchisseur, which is basically somebody who did laundry and housework, you were expected to at least hire somebody to do some of the cooking and cleaning within the house. It turned out that you were paying the house staff the equivalent on a monthly basis of what the per capita income for the country was on an annual basis. It was complicated for us because the first thing that you learned was that they refer to you as patron, which means master, which didn't quite fit with who we were or what our self images were. It took a while to get the house staff to change that to monsieur. And they weren't quite comfortable with that initially but learned. So we learned to cope in an environment where things that you would normally expect that you'd have available, like fresh milk, weren't. There were things that you learned about shopping and buying things in the open market and things like that that made life interesting, fascinating, tolerable, and sometimes just really a huge pain in the ass. Every time you cracked an egg, you found blood in it. Chillag: You've alluded to some of the expatriate-like cultural differences, but were there other cultural differences that were really striking in the work or that affected your work? White: Mainly getting an understanding with the French that we weren't there to usurp what their authority had been. That we were there to contribute. That we were there because we wanted to encourage and teach the African teams that we were working with ideas that we believed they needed to know to be able to be effective in doing vaccinations and follow-up checks. It was clear that you could go back and check on the smallpox vaccinations and determine whether or not you had a take. You weren't always able to do that with measles, so you did the dipping of the fingers into-I forget what it was at that point, some kind of silver nitrate. Part of it was even learning to adapt and deal with the official American community that was in the country because it was a small community, but at the same time it was expected that you interact with them. Chillag: So your base was there, but I imagine you traveled out around the country. Is that correct? White: Yes. The base was in Ouagadougou. In the first several months we were there, we traveled to other areas of the country because we had a number of smallpox outbreaks. It was important to be out there with the teams if we were going to be able 1) to try to identify where the incident case came from and 2) to do the vaccinations and/or curtail what we thought might be spread of the infection. So I probably spent, on average, maybe 40%-50% of the time outside of Ouaga. The next largest city I spent time in was Bobo- Dioulassou, which was where the African/French regional health operation was located. Other parts of the country that I visited depended upon where there were outbreaks or where the teams were working. Travel slowed down some in the rainy season. Chillag: What were the biggest rewards of the work for you? White: I think part of it was realizing that there were opportunities to make a difference. We had conversations about this even during the course of the training in Atlanta. That, if we were successful in eradicating smallpox and controlling measles (measles had a 20%- 25% mortality rate then), what was going to happen in those countries? We weren't doing anything to change the economy; there wasn't necessarily anything else that we were doing that was going to change the larger health structure. And so from a philosophical point of view, one of the questions we asked ourselves in late-night conversations with wine and cheese was basically: What were we accomplishing? And I think we accomplished something for the United States in that it took away an infectious disease that could have come here. But the real question was: What was the real benefit in the areas in Africa that we were working in? I think some of the techniques that we taught folks about disease follow-up, learning about putting in place some modest epidemiology and epidemiologic approaches in surveillance and assessment of coverage, stayed with some of the teams. So I think we contributed to their having a better understanding of those things. But the ultimate, I think, was just the psychic kick of being able to demonstrate to myself that I could able to learn to function in a different culture, learn to function in a different language, and learn to be leading a team in accomplishing things. I wonder, frankly, with today's instant communication, whether or not the freedom that we had to go ahead and make decisions and take action would be allowed under today's circumstances. There were times when I was out in the field and I would come back and I would find a cable asking for one thing, and then 3 days later there was another cable countermanding that request, and then another cable saying, "Forget those two. They're not important." Today, if you had wireless access or a cell phone and a satellite communication or anything else, somebody would want instant response to things that may interfere with what really needed to be done . Being on the ground and being able to make the decision with the available information was key. The other thing that in some ways shaped my experience there was the fact that our son was discovered to have an illness when we were there, and the nature of his illness was congenital. It was Hirschsprung's disease, and that meant that he had a section in his colon that needed to be resected. This condition is usually discovered within the first few weeks of life, with newborns. In his case, it wasn't discovered until later, and so there were constant questions about whether or not there were parasites infecting him or something else causing his symptoms. And that caused a significant amount of stress for my wife and for me because you don't like to see your kid in pain and discomfort. And when his colon got enlarged, he had to have frequent enemas and other procedures to disimpact him, and they just weren't very satisfactory, and it was a difficult way for a child to live. The dilemma occurred when the State Department physician, who was the first one who came up with a best assessment as to what was wrong, determined that it wasn't a reason for medical evacuation because it was a condition that was congenital in nature and should have been fixed before we were overseas. That, on the face of it, seemed preposterous. The folks like George Lythcott and others in the regional office backed the decision to allow my wife and son to leave the country on early R&amp;R; (rest &amp; recreation) to Germany. There, at Landstuhl in Frankfurt, they did a full evaluation; they weren't quite sure that what they saw was correct and sent them stateside. So I wound up being in- country probably about 4-6 months by myself while they were in Germany, then in the States, going through all of the diagnostic procedures as to what was really happening because it wasn't clear. Finally, Children's Hospital in Boston recognized the condition and corrected it. The other difficulty incurred by that situation was that some challenges were made to the State Department on its decision, not by me but by my brother, who was a physician in the States. He sort stirred up some shit-excuse the Spanish. The State Department got very huffy and essentially at one point made a note to the record that described my then-wife as a morale problem, and they would not allow her to return to post. The reason for that was that there were a few other Foreign Service officers at post who also had very young children, and they had seen circumstances in which they had seen a mother with a child who was somewhere around the same age as theirs who was not dealt with fairly, in their mind, by the State Department. The parents raised all kind of hell with the Ambassador, who just got all very huffy about the decision. The State Department rallied around itself and said that its decision was correct and there was no way to reverse it. So that changed the circumstances in terms of whether or not my wife was ever going to be allowed back in-country. She had been designated as persona non grata by the Ambassador and therefore DOS. And so that pretty much ended my career in terms of being part of the international group. From the CDC perspective, there were other opportunities to go overseas. One of them was Afghanistan at that point, which was not a likely choice, given the fact that I wanted to spend some time with my spouse and kids, and Afghanistan was not a post where that was going to happen. Chillag: So, one of the questions that we ask sort of follows from this in a different way: How did your experience working on smallpox affect the rest of your career and your life? White: It's a good question because one of the things that I saw coming back stateside, I think there was a lot of preparation done for us going overseas. There was a lot of instruction about things that you hope never happen to you and infectious diseases that you hopefully never come in contact with, around anti- malarials and getting your kids to take the meds; information about the smallpox program, and USAID relationships, and all of those things. When I came back stateside, I was dealing with relocating my family stateside, and the East Coast seemed to be the place. And since I had spent time in New York City before then, getting relocated in New York made some sense. The domestic side of the CDC operation had little, in my estimation, appreciation or understanding, at least from the perspective of what Operations Officers learned to do overseas. And questions around promotion, questions around understanding of those things, and, at least in my experience coming back, were not well understood by the domestic operations side of CDC. When I came back, they sort of grudgingly accepted me into the tuberculosis program in New York. But it wasn't clear, at least at that point, that the experience overseas translated into a kind of integrated career pattern within CDC. I would say the other thing, just from a personal point of view, that pissed me off even when I joined the tuberculosis program is that, what I was looking for was an opportunity to get into graduate school so I could get at least a master's level, beyond where I was, in public administration or public health. NYU [New York University] at that point offered the program. When I requested CDC to pay the tuition, that I was going to be going to school in the evening, so there was no time away from work, they denied it because they weren't certain that I had career potential within CDC. So I then went to work for the Office of Economic Opportunity and worked in community health centers and a variety of other kinds of things. I stayed in public service until sometime in the early '80s. When Joe Califano was Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, I was the point person on his office for the Childhood Immunization Program. That caused some folks at CDC to be anxious because there had previously been somebody from CDC based in Washington who was heading that up. I wasn't at CDC then-I was in the other part of the Public Health Service-and there was a concern that I harbored ill feelings towards CDC, and I didn't. I mean, I just realized that they were going one way and I was going another way, and that was fine. I think that as far as I was concerned, I learned a number of things when I worked with CDC. I had a great experience from a personal perspective overseas in learning that I could go ahead and make decisions, and I could make decisions in complicated political and other environments that made sense, and I don't regret that experience at all. I don't. In terms of my kids and as far as what their perspective on all of this is, they purport to remember their time overseas. My daughter was 10 months old when she left Upper Volta, yet she still seems to have memories of that. I don't know if it's from family conversations or whatever. But both my son and daughter have spent a fair amount of time traveling internationally or working internationally and living internationally. My younger son, who wasn't even part of the group at that point, also has worked and lived internationally. In fact, my daughter lived about 8 years in Russia, and my son for 9 years. In fact, he's back there with his wife and daughter now. So I think they grew from that experience. You know, people perceive themselves as being more international in how they see the world. Chillag: I suspect you've touched on some of the things that would be the answer to this question, but if you had been in charge of the program as a whole, what would you have changed in terms of the approach or any dimensions of it? White: This was really CDC's first effort in international public health in any major way. I think the training of folks leaving country was pretty reasonably well done. I think training people about how to reenter and how to interact with folks domestically was not as well integrated as it could have been. Maybe it's changed now and maybe the career paths and the way that one can take a look at things are better thought of and better defined. Chillag: At what point did you think smallpox could actually be eradicated? White: Well, I think it was pretty clear. I mean, I never thought when I went to work for the syphilis eradication program, that syphilis was going to be eradicated, particularly given what I saw in New York, and at that point homosexuality was so hidden it was unbelievable, in '62 and '63. But I thought that given the availability of vaccine, if we could figure out the cold-chain issues, if we could figure out the trainings of teams and the distribution and early knowledge of what one could learn about managing the containment of smallpox outbreaks, smallpox could clearly be eradicated. The strategies were modified over time, and the availability of the bifurcated needle and better vaccines and all the rest of that really helped, but I think it really was in many ways sort of a simple disease to eradicate. That's why, frankly, I couldn't understand the hysteria around scurrying around and looking for millions of doses of smallpox vaccine that went on in the Tommy Thompson era. It just struck me as really stupid public health and a waste of monies and dollars. But I don't feel strongly about it. Chillag: Do you remember hearing about the last case of smallpox and how you felt? White: Yes. In my career I've been involved in eradicating syphilis and eradicating poverty, and the only thing I've ever been successful in eradicating was smallpox. It's not the only thing that I'm proud of, but having been part of the group of people who were able to contribute in some way to that, yeah, I think it's an impressive thing. My godson is getting married tomorrow, and the real question was whether or not I was going to come down for any part of this reunion. So we came down today, and we're going to go back up early tomorrow morning for the wedding. But it was important to see folks who were here and also just to reconnect with some people who were part of something I think that was a very interesting and I think a significant effort in public health. The other thing that I will say that has been a point of unhappiness for me in the last several years is the erosion of CDC as an agency that is seen as a significant presence in public health. I worked in Massachusetts for the Department of Public Health up there, and they don't look to CDC for direction and guidance. I think the agency, over a period of time, has become increasingly politicized in the appointments of its directors and its missions. I think some of that's been allowed by Congress, and a lot of that's been allowed by the secretaries. I think that that's unfortunate. Now it's even worse because it's happening at NIH [National Institutes of Health]. But it's an unfortunate legacy in the last 15 years or so in terms of what's gone on with CDC. Seeing Tommy Thompson out on television talking about anthrax, I just wanted to reach deeply into my throat and retch on the floor. The man had no reason to be that. You needed a scientist out there talking about that and reassuring people of what was going on. Chillag: And you feel that was very different at the time you were with CDC? White: Yes. I think that there were people here who were connected to the science. I don't care if it was Alex Langmuir, when he set up the EIS [Epidemic Intelligence Service] or Carl Tyler, when he was there and I was working with the Family Planning Program. They came to agreement on things that they could contribute to and make life better in the delivery of reproductive health services. I mean that the Reagan era began to deviate from science in the area of reproductive health, and I think it continued a little bit in Bush one and I think it's gotten worse in Bush two. And public health science is just not here. Chillag: So, is there anything else you want people to know for posterity about your experiences? White: Yes. I was 26, 27 years old at the time, and I was in an environment in which I was perceived as being in charge of a significant part of the development of a public health program in a country, and that was pretty heady stuff. We were the folks that people came to when the new Peace Corps group was coming to town because we were really the first American presence in that country that had gone outside of the major parts of the city. And when the Peace Corps came, I think that our presence there made that more accepting. And as long as you made it clear to folks that we didn't work for the CIA, I think it was ultimately fun. Chillag: Thank you very much. It's been a pleasure. # # # </pre> Player html for embedded player to stream video content <iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/309983164&amp;color=ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="166"></iframe> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Type The nature or genre of the resource sound recording - nonmusical interviews Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2006-07-14 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/1591f emory:1591f Subject The topic of the resource Smallpox Eradication USAID WHO CDC Operations Officer Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 389484144 bytes audio/x-aiff Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Chillag, Kata (Interviewer); CDC; Anthropologist White, William (Interviewee); CDC; Operations Officer Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Reunion of West and Central Africa Smallpox workers (2006 : Atlanta, Georgia) Title A name given to the resource WHITE, BILL Description An account of the resource Bill White was an Operations Officer assigned to Upper Volta (Burkina Faso). Bill describes his work in Upper Volta, the complexities of daily life, his son's illness, and negotiating CDC infrastructure once he returned to the United States. Bill reflects on the impact living abroad had on his children and the role of CDC today in public health. Language A language of the resource English