Alan Schnur is a former WHO staff member. Following his work in the smallpox eradication programme in Ethiopia, India, Bangladesh, Somalia and Geneva, he worked in the Expanded Programme on Immunization units in two WHO regional offices: South-East Asia and the Western Pacific. He was a member of the Polio Eradication Task Force at the Regional Office for the Western Pacific that successfully guided countries to achieve the goal of zero polio cases in the region. During his assignment at the WHO country office in China, he worked on polio eradication and disease surveillance and response issues, including the response to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003. Mr Schnur's last assignment before retirement was with the evaluation unit at WHO headquarters in Geneva. His interests include sustaining awareness about the management successes of the smallpox eradication programme, particularly establishment of a culture of evaluation at all levels of the programme.