The fight against the Coronavirus that is wreaking havoc the world over could gain by learning a lesson of a similar pandemic some decades before. 40 years ago, on May 8 1980, Small Pox was officially eradicated but not before killing over 300 million people. During that time, just as is the cases today, conspiracy theories abounded that it was a man-made virus created in some superpower laboratory as some kind of chemical weapon. That is the same case today as accusations and counter-accusations are traded between China and the US. When Small Pox was eradicated, it was at the height of the Cold War when the West, led by the US was fighting for supremacy against a Russian-led communist bloc. But when both camps were confronted by a deadly virus, they set aside their ideological differences, put their heads together and successfully fought and defeated the virus. That school of thought is what is missing today as the world grapples with the devastation being caused by COVID-19. Instead of world powers coming together and collaborating to find a solution, they are busy playing the blame-game. 40 years ago, ideologies and politics were tossed into the bottom drawer as they were no longer a priority in the face of a pandemic that knew no political boundaries. That is the missing ingredient in finding a lasting remedy for the current threat. This is not the time to flex muscles and trading blame, it is a time for world powers to set their differences aside and pool their resources together to save the world. There is a lot to learn from the Small Pox experience but the world has to first sit up and listen.
