The Director-General of WHO, Dr Margaret Chan, arrived today in Angola’s capital Luanda for a two-day visit to assess the situation of the current outbreak of yellow fever virus.
“This is the most serious outbreak of yellow fever that Angola has faced in 30 years,” says Dr Chan, who visited a vaccination point in Luanda. “WHO is taking urgent action to support the Government to control this outbreak with a widespread vaccination campaign.”
“This is the most serious outbreak of yellow fever that Angola has faced in 30 years,”
WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan
Yellow fever virus is transmitted by infected mosquitoes, the most common species being Aedes aegypti – the same mosquito that spreads the Zika virus. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting and fatigue. A small percentage of infected people experience a second, more severe phase of illness which includes high fever, jaundice and internal bleeding. At least half of severely affected patients who don’t receive treatment die within 10 to 14 days.
“The vaccination campaign has so far been effective. We are seeing case numbers dropping considerably, especially in Luanda,” explains Dr Sergio Yactayo, expert on epidemic diseases at WHO, following his mission to Angola. “We need to vaccinate the maximum number of people in Luanda and the affected provinces as possible to stop the spread of this deadly disease.”
Following her visit to the vaccination point, Dr Chan will also meet health workers at a provincial health care centre and will later meet representatives from local and national authorities.
Vaccine shortage
WHO has taken action to contain this outbreak, working with the Angolan Ministry of Health and partners to vaccinate people in the affected provinces. As of end of March, WHO and partners had vaccinated 5.7 million people in Luanda against yellow fever using vaccines from the International Coordination Group emergency stockpile.
Whilst concerted efforts are being made to stop the outbreak, there is a global vaccine shortage, with the emergency stockpile completely depleted. An additional 1.5 million doses are needed to vaccinate the population at risk in Luanda province alone.
With the spread of the outbreak to other provinces in Angola, and travellers bringing sporadic cases to other parts of Africa and China, WHO requests prioritizing vaccination of people at highest risk. WHO is in discussion with manufacturers and partners to divert shipments of vaccines for national routine immunization programmes until the emergency stockpile is replenished.
Partners working with WHO and the Ministry of Health include UNICEF, CDC/Atlanta, CORE Group, Médecins Sans Frontières, Medicos del Mundo, the National Red Cross of Angola and local community-based organizations.