LONDON, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Cooperation between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War on rooting out smallpox has set a precedent for major countries around the world to work together to tackle infectious diseases while putting politics aside, a BBC article has said.

Donald Henderson, once a leader of the international effort to eradicate smallpox, has called the smallpox eradication "a Cold War victory," according to the article.

"Although many years during this period were especially tense ones in East-West relationships, professionals from the two countries worked amicably together within a WHO framework to galvanize the smallpox eradication campaign and to bring it to a successful conclusion little more than 10 years after its inception," Henderson was quoted as saying.

While the international community has not yet laid out many plans and actions against the COVID-19 pandemic, the world could draw examples from history, the article said.

"As the world confronts the COVID-19 pandemic, humanity's victory over smallpox is a reminder of what is possible when nations come together to fight a common health threat," World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was quoted by the article as saying.