In Immunising the Children of the World, Ralph H. Henderson tells the story of WHO’s contributions to the global efforts to ensure worldwide immunisation. He served with the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) during its formative years as Programme Manager and then Director from 1977 to 1989 before becoming a WHO Assistant Director-General from 1990 to 1999. 

Written in the form of a professional memoir, the author describes the technical details and political intrigues behind these efforts. The book begins by describing his service with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in West Africa.  It concludes with an account of an attempt to establish for WHO the ‘Health Leadership Service’, a young professionals programme modelled on the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the CDC. His story is supplemented with posters, photographs, and detailed charts and figures that bring to life a largely ignored public health triumph.

Engaging and informative, this book will be of interest to students, scholars and researchers of public health and medical sociology.