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WEST AFRICA: West Africa faces yellow fever vaccine shortage
27 May 2009 17:42:17 GMT
 Source: IRIN

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DAKAR, 27 May 2009 (IRIN) - Up to 150 million people in Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria could be at risk of contracting yellow fever says the World Health Organization, as the International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Yellow Fever Vaccine reports it has just a quarter of the US$186 million it needs to vaccinate people in 12 at-risk countries.

Vaccination campaigns in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali, Senegal and Togo are complete, leaving Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Existing funds would cover only four of the seven remaining countries.

"If we do not sustain this programme, yellow fever outbreaks will continue to affect populations who can least afford it," WHO's West Africa immunisation adviser, Fenella Avokey, said in a communiqué

The ICG also includes the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), Médecins Sans Frontières and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Yellow fever is caused by a virus transmitted by mosquitoes. Preventive vaccination campaigns are carried out annually, in addition to emergency vaccinations in outbreak zones, according to WHO.

aj/np

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