Expert Blogs

In the early 1950s an estimated 50 million cases of smallpox occurred every year.   The vaccine was widely use in the rich countries but it would deteriorate within three days of being taken out of a refrigerator and vaccination in tropical countries was effectively impossible.

Professor Leslie Collier, who died aged 90 this week in London, worked out a way to freeze-dry smallpox vaccine so that it could travel to areas with hot climates. Professor Collier’s re-formulated vaccine was put in 200-dose vials and carried to remote areas with saline solution to re-constitute the powdered vaccine, a pot for boiling needles and two plastic tubes – one for new needles and the other for used needles.

The Cervical Cancer Action (CCA) coalition is pleased to announce the publication of Progress in Cervical Cancer Prevention: The CCA Report Card.

The report card, launched on April 13 during the 44th Session of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development, documents global progress in low- and middle-income countries over the past decade to fight cervical cancer using new, proven, and cost-effective approaches.