UN to vaccinate 1bn people against yellow fever in Africa by 2026
Fri, Apr 13, 2018 | By publisher
Health
THE UN is to vaccinate one billion people in Africa against yellow fever by 2026
in an ambitious campaign to eliminate epidemics of the deadly disease on the continent.
The mosquito-borne viral disease is a major killer in Africa, where it can spread fast in highly populated areas
with devastating consequences.
“With one injection we can protect a person for life against this dangerous pathogen,” said Tedros Ghebreyesus,
Director-General of the WHO the programme’s launch in Nigeria, a priority target country.
“This unprecedented commitment by countries will ensure that by 2026 Africa is free of yellow fever epidemics.”
The WHo said a yellow fever outbreak is active in Nigeria, with hundreds of suspected cases reported after a
seven-year-old girl developed fever, vomiting and abdominal pain in August.
Children make up almost half of those targeted.
“Today, the threat of yellow fever looms larger than ever before, especially for thousands of children across
Africa,” Stefan Peterson, chief of health at the UNICEF, said in a statement.
A major vaccination campaign in Angola and Congo in 2016 brought one of the worst outbreaks of the disease in
decades under control after more than 400 people died.
One reason the disease is spreading is because more people are moving from rural to urban areas, particularly
to slums, said Robin Nandy, UNICEF’s chief of immunisation.
“These areas tend to have high numbers of people living in close proximity with poor hygiene and sanitation,
all the conditions that make it ripe for a disease outbreak,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a
telephone interview.
He said the virus also poses a serious risk in Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The vaccination programme is a joint venture by the WHO, UNICEF, the GAVI global vaccine alliance and more than
50 health partners.
– Apr. 13, 2018 @ 09:35 GMT |
BE
Related Posts
Gavi concludes agreements to facilitate donations of 305,000 mpox vaccine doses on behalf of US, with the first delivery to Nigeria
A shipment of 11,200 doses, donated by the United States of America and facilitated by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, have...
Read MoreNAFDAC busts Rice repackaging factory in Nasarawa
THE National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Thursday raided a rice-repackaging factory in New Karu,...
Read MoreManufacturer of recalled drug in custody – NAFDAC
THE manufacturer of the recalled batch of Deekins Amoxycilin 500mg capsule is in custody, says the National Agency for Food...
Read MoreMost Read
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Keep abreast of news and other developments from our website.