New Delhi, Sept. 17: The Director-General of World Health Organization, Dr. H. Mahler, to-day struck an optimistic note that smallpox would be liquidated from the South-east Asian region in a couple of years. “Unless we lick it right now, the whole world will be threatened,” Dr. Mahler told pressmen on the eve of the 26th session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-east Asia opening here to-morrow. Delegates from ten member-states in the region are participating in the session which would review the 25 years of activity of this body and also discuss the 1975 programme and budget of the WHO Regional Office. A principal item on the Committee’s agenda is the annual report of the Regional Director Dr. V.T.H. Gunaratne, which expressed the hope that smallpox would be eradicated from the region by 1975. Dr. Mahler said that the Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, whom he met to-day had favoured a high priority for smallpox eradication programme and was keen to wipe out the disease once and for all. He assured all assistance from the WHO in the form of equipment, vaccine and logistic experts. Dr. Mahler denied that the slide-back in the eradication programme in India had anything to do with the withdrawal of WHO experts from the scene in the late 90s. The success of the scheme depended entirely on the aggressiveness with which the Government tackled it.
Published - September 18, 2023 03:10 am IST
