Leading to zero

In global health, control means keeping a disease in check and accepting that some cases will remain. Zero is a different proposition altogether: it demands that every village, every community and every child is equally worth reaching. Only smallpox has ever been eradicated, and the diseases closest to that line are held back by conflict, funding pressure and fading public memory. So what does it take to lead an effort all the way to zero? How is commitment sustained across decades and changing governments? And what happens the day after certification, when the vector remains and imported cases still arrive?

In this episode, host Garry Aslanyan explores these questions with two guests who bring deeply complementary perspectives. Dr Jamal Ahmed is WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office Director for Polio Eradication and former Chair of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative's Strategy Committee, and has spent his career in polio eradication, from surveillance and laboratory systems to programme implementation. And joining him is Dr Stephen Vreden, Chair of the Committee for the Prevention of Re-establishment of Malaria in Suriname. The country was certified malaria-free by WHO in June 2025, the first country in the Amazon region to reach that milestone.

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