The paper on DA by Bob Roehr gives no inkling of the effect of his personality on the field workers.
I was in the WHO Smallpox Zero campaign in north Bangladesh in the summer of 1974 when there were torrential rains, vast floods and horrific famine as well as many cases of smallpox. Getting about was not easy, food scarce and local workers pessimistic about the future of their country.
When all the WHO consultants in Bangladesh met with DA he was truly inspirational and totally focussed. We were expected to live one hundred percent for the campaign just as he did. When anxious relatives contacted the office in Geneva they were told no news is good news!
He was a big man and interested in every difficulty we encountered. He really did reinvigorate us all almost miraculously.
I have never met anyone else who I thought capable of driving such a campaign single-mindedly as he did.
When I met him three years ago in Dr. Jenner's House in Berkeley he was still a friend and insisted that this was the era of vaccines not antibiotics.
He was a truly great man for what he achieved and how it was achieved.
Rapid Response:
Re: DA Henderson the man
The paper on DA by Bob Roehr gives no inkling of the effect of his personality on the field workers.
I was in the WHO Smallpox Zero campaign in north Bangladesh in the summer of 1974 when there were torrential rains, vast floods and horrific famine as well as many cases of smallpox. Getting about was not easy, food scarce and local workers pessimistic about the future of their country.
When all the WHO consultants in Bangladesh met with DA he was truly inspirational and totally focussed. We were expected to live one hundred percent for the campaign just as he did. When anxious relatives contacted the office in Geneva they were told no news is good news!
He was a big man and interested in every difficulty we encountered. He really did reinvigorate us all almost miraculously.
I have never met anyone else who I thought capable of driving such a campaign single-mindedly as he did.
When I met him three years ago in Dr. Jenner's House in Berkeley he was still a friend and insisted that this was the era of vaccines not antibiotics.
He was a truly great man for what he achieved and how it was achieved.
Competing interests: No competing interests