On May 8, 1980, the World Health Assembly certified the world free of naturally-occurring smallpox. Smallpox is an acute contagious disease caused by the variola virus, a member of the orthopoxvirus family. It was one of the world’s most devastating diseases known to humanity.

The last known natural case was in Somalia in 1977. It was declared eradicated in 1980 following a global immunization campaign led by the WHO. Smallpox is transmitted from person to person via infective droplets during close contact with infected symptomatic people.