Ali Maow Maalin (Cali Maow Macallin)

Who was he?

Ali Maow Maalin was a Somali hospital cook and health worker from Merca (Wikipedia, Ali Maow Maalin). He was the last person known to have caught naturally occurring smallpox, of the Variola minor type (same source). See health in Somalia.

Early life

He was born in Merca in 1954 (Wikipedia). He worked as a hospital cook and sometimes as a vaccinator for a WHO smallpox team (same source). Sources differ on his vaccination: a CDC epidemiologist said the vaccine had not taken, while Maalin said in 2007 that he had never been vaccinated because "it looked like the shot hurt" (same source).

The last case, 1977

On 12 October 1977 two children with smallpox were found near Kurtunawarey, about 90 km from Merca (Wikipedia). Maalin guided the vehicle that took them to an isolation camp, and is believed to have caught the disease then (same source). He fell ill on 22 October and was first thought to have chickenpox (same source). On 30 October a colleague reported him and he was moved to isolation (same source).

The WHO team traced 161 contacts and kept them under watch for six weeks; none fell ill (Wikipedia). On 17 April 1978 the WHO's Nairobi office wrote: "Search complete. No cases discovered. Ali Maow Maalin is the world's last known smallpox case" (same source). On 26 October 1979 the WHO declared smallpox eradicated worldwide (same source).

Polio work

He was one of about 10,000 volunteers in the campaign that ended polio in Somalia by 2008 (Wikipedia). He said: "Somalia was the last country with smallpox. I wanted to help ensure that we would not be the last place with polio too" (same source). He worked for the WHO as a local coordinator, travelling across Somalia to vaccinate children (same source).

After polio returned to Somalia in 2013, he went back to vaccinating in the Merca district (same source). He fell ill and died of malaria on 22 July 2013 (same source).

In short

A Merca health worker who was the world's last natural smallpox case in 1977 and later spent years vaccinating children against polio.