About the book
Medical historian Nancy Leys Stepan examines eradication, the deliberate and complete removal of a disease through human effort, and weighs the gains and drawbacks of campaigns that target one disease at a time. It can look like an absolute good, but critics argue the same resources would do more for primary health services. Her account runs from the early twentieth century origins of the idea to current campaigns against malaria, polio and Guinea worm disease, set against imperialism, the rise of the World Health Organization and the Cold War. At its center is Fred Lowe Soper, the arch-eradicationist whose campaigns targeted yellow fever, smallpox, malaria, yaws and hookworm.
Bill Gates warned that its academic style can be hard going for non-experts, but said the effort pays off in a clearer view of the lessons humanity has drawn from past efforts to wipe out disease.
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Bill Gates (CEO/Microsoft)
Finally, a word of warning: Eradication is written in a very academic style, and it may be a challenge for non-experts to get to Stepan’s valuable arguments. It’s worth the effort, though, because you come away from it with a clearer sense of what the world has learned about getting rid of diseases and how we can use that to guide the effort to save even more lives.
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