8 horrific diseases that we've almost wiped off the planet

Not too long ago, it was commonplace for people across the globe to die horrific, painful, disfiguring deaths from illnesses they couldn't control.

Today, many of those diseases have begun to disappear.

In many parts of the developed world, some of the worst of these diseases are gone completely. Their disappearance is a testament to the power of vaccines.

Yet these diseases still exist in many other countries, and public health workers are working hard to contain their spread and increase peoples' access to the shots and pills we often take for granted.