Technological advancements, including landmark innovations in vaccinology 
through molecular virology, and significant transformation and changes in the 
society have taken place since the eradication of smallpox thirty years ago. The 
success with eradicating smallpox gave confidence for initiating the eradication 
of other diseases, such as malaria and polio. However, these efforts have not 
been as effective, as recorded for small pox, for a variety of reasons. There is 
now a debate within the global health community as to whether eradication 
campaigns should be abandoned in favor of less costly and perhaps more effective 
primary health and containment or control programmes. Significant changes that 
have taken place in the last thirty years, since the eradication of smallpox 
include, among others, (i) post-colonial political changes, with varying 
commitment to disease eradication initiatives, especially in the parts of the 
world most burdened by infectious and vaccine preventable diseases, (ii) 
innovations leading to the development of new and highly effective vaccines, 
targeted to specific diseases, (iii) the transformation brought about by 
improvement in education and the new global access to information (cell phones, 
internet, etc.), leading to an unlimited access to different types of 
information, subject to either positive or negative use. At the onset of 
eradication of smallpox, global health was confined in its operation. Today, 
global health is at the intersection of medical and social science 
disciplines-including demography, economics, epidemiology, political economy and 
sociology. Therefore, in considering the issue of disease eradication, medical 
and social perspectives must be brought into play, if future eradication 
programmes must succeed. The paper discusses the roles of these disciplines in 
disease control and eradication, especially as it affects sub Saharan Africa, 
the melting pot and verdant pasture of infectious diseases.