File:1969 upper volta a.png

English: During worldwide smallpox eradication efforts, this 1969 photograph was captured at a “Truck Ceremony”, which was a way of introducing a fleet of transportation vehicles to the Upper Volta community of Burkina Faso. In 1968, the world's public health organizations – led by the United States and the then-Soviet Union – came together to join in the fight to eradicate smallpox from the world. Smallpox outbreaks have occurred from time to time for thousands of years, but the disease is now eradicated after a successful worldwide vaccination program. The last case of smallpox in the United States was in 1949. The last naturally occurring case in the world was in Somalia in 1977. After the disease was eliminated from the world, routine vaccination against smallpox among the general public was stopped because it was no longer necessary for prevention.