Product Description

A story of courage and risk-taking, tells how smallpox, a disease that killed, blinded, and scarred millions over centuries of human history, was completely eradicated in a spectacular triumph of medicine and public health. Part autobiography, part mystery, the story is told by a man who was one of the architects of a radical vaccination scheme that became a key strategy in ending the horrible disease when it was finally contained in India. In House on Fire, William H. Foege describes his own experiences in public health and details the remarkable program that involved people from countries around the world in pursuit of a single objectiveeliminating smallpox forever. Rich with the details of everyday life, as well as a few adventures, gives an intimate sense of what it is like to work on the ground in some of the worlds most impoverished countriesand tells what it is like to contribute to programs that really do change the world.