At the height of the Cold War, the US and Soviet Union worked together to eradicate smallpox

Jul 19, 2016

Test tubes filled with samples of bacteria to be tested are seen at the Health Protection Agency in north London March 9, 2011. Picture taken March 9, 2011. For decades scientists have managed to develop new medicines to stay at least one step ahead of the ever-mutating enemy, bacteria. Now, though, we may be running out of road. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as MRSA, alone is estimated to kill around 19,000 people every year in the United States -- far more than HIV and AIDS -- and a similar number in Europe, and other drug-resistant superbugs are spreading. Picture taken March 9, 2011.

The mission to eradicate smallpox seemed impossible, but its success highlights the power of diplomacy, innovation and cooperation. Image: REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett

Sean B. Carroll

Our Impact

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how Innovation is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

Innovation

The eradication of smallpox- year in which smallpox ceased to be endemic in each country

Image: Our World in Data

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.