Yellow fever in spotlight

African health ministers currently meeting for the 67th session of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Committee in Zimbabwe have agreed on 10 priority actions to guide countries to eliminate yellow fever epidemics by 2026. Yellow fever is caused by a virus and may lead to severe bleeding and death if patients don't receive quick treatment. The disease affects several African countries and is characterised by fever, headache, jaundice, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting and fatigue. Introducing the framework for implementing the global strategy to eliminate yellow fever on behalf of the WHO regional director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the acting director for the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, Dr Zabulon Yoti, informed the ministers that low yellow fever vaccination rates, limited vaccine supply and emergency stockpile, inadequate implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005), climate change and rapid urbanisation are some of the factors that have put over 440 million people at risk. The World Health Organisation estimates that in one of the worst outbreaks in 2013, there were about 170 000 severe yellow fever cases in Africa that led to about 60 000 deaths. The massive pre-emptive vaccination of over 30 million people during the recent outbreak in Angola and DRC was a measure that averted an epidemic that could have been of similar magnitude to that of 2013.“Yellow fever is still a serious public health risk within and outside the region. With a single dose of yellow fever vaccine per person, elimination of these epidemics is indeed a quick public health gain. Country ownership and leadership is critical to protect people at risk through preventive and routine vaccination,” he said. The Ministers have committed to undertake WHO recommended risk assessments, catch-up campaigns and adhere to implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR) especially for travellers to and from high-risk countries to tackle the disease. Other actions will be to vaccinate all people in high risk countries, improve routine immunisation, vaccinate every eligible child as well as protect workers in high-risk industries such as oil, mining, construction and forestry. The ministers have also pledged to prepare 'readiness plans' that can facilitate quick response to an outbreak of yellow fever in urban centres. This will also entail sustaining vector surveillance and control programmes in cities and strengthening surveillance and early detection mechanisms. In addition, they undertook to establish a regional surveillance network that will bring all high-risk countries together in order to standardise prevention and treatment procedures. The ministers called on the international coordinating group to ensure availability of a stockpile of yellow fever emergency supplies that can back-stop countries in cases of outbreaks. This will go hand-in-hand with fostering response system that facilitates rapid case detection, reactive vaccination, good case management, vector control and community mobilisation. With the above actions people in 35 high-risk African countries will be protected against yellow fever and international spread of the disease will be prevented through prompt detection, confirmation and rapid containment of yellow fever outbreaks on the continent.Countries with a risk of yellow fever include Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Republic of the Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo and Uganda.About yellow fever Yellow fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes. The “yellow” in the name refers to the jaundice that affects some patients. Symptoms of yellow fever include fever, headache, jaundice, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting and fatigue.A small proportion of patients who contract the virus develop severe symptoms and approximately half of those die within seven to 10 days. The virus is endemic in tropical areas of Africa and Central and South America. Since the launch of the yellow fever initiative in 2006, significant progress in combatting the disease has been made in West Africa and more than 105 million people have been vaccinated in mass campaigns. No outbreaks of yellow fever were reported in West Africa during 2015. Large epidemics of yellow fever occur when infected people introduce the virus into heavily populated areas with high mosquito density and where most people have little or no immunity, due to lack of vaccination. In these conditions, infected mosquitoes transmit the virus from person to person. Yellow fever is prevented by an extremely effective vaccine, which is safe and affordable. A single dose of yellow fever vaccine is sufficient to confer sustained immunity and life-long protection against yellow fever disease and a booster dose of the vaccine is not needed. The vaccine provides effective immunity within 30 days for 99% of persons vaccinated. Good supportive treatment in hospitals improves survival rates. There is currently no specific anti-viral drug for yellow fever. WHO

Yellow fever in spotlight

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-25

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Yellow fever in spotlight

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-25

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