WHO Concerned About Re-Surgence Of Yellow Fever In Africa

Akosombo (Eastern Region), 20 Oct. The Africa Office of the World Health Organization (WHO) today expressed concern about the resurgence of Yellow Fever on the continent. Dr. Oyewale Tomori, WHO country Representative in Zimbabwe and Head of the Disease Prevention and Control Division of WHO Africa, said between 1986 and 1992, Africa accounted for 95 per cent of yellow fever cases in the world. Dr. Tomori was giving an overview of Yellow Fever control in Africa at a week-long meeting on the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) country Managers from Africa at Akosombo. The meeting, under the auspices of the Ministry of Health, is being attended by 52 EPI staff from 30 African countries. They are reviewing strategies for accelerated implementation of EPI surveillance in the context of disease control initiatives, plan major activities and indicators for monitoring progress of member states and outline responsibilities and duties of EPI staff at country, inter-country and regional levels. Dr. Tomori said the disease is more of a problem because most of the time funding is only provided during an outbreak but no funds are available for prevention. He called for at least a one-time immunization campaign in addition to routine immunization against the disease to prevent outbreaks. ''To control outbreaks, there should be rapid detection, confirmation and emergency immunization,'' Dr. Tomori said. He said he was happy with the WHO directive that Yellow Fever vaccination should form part of routine immunization against the six killer diseases to attain at least 80 per cent coverage in the coming years. Dr. Andrei Lobanov, Uganda's EPI Manager, speaking on polio, said the disease was increasing with about 2,000 paralytic cases a year. Though there are about 10 times higher the number of cases in recent years, current surveillance does not rpt not allow for proper documentation of polio cases. Dr. Lobanov said NID's were introduced because it was realized that though routine immunization could help stamp down the disease, it cannot eradicate it all alone. The NID's appeared to be successful in most countries because out of the 30 participating countries, 25 of them achieved 80 per cent coverage or higher on the immunization days. He hoped the disease would be eradicated by the year 2000 with the development of effective surveillance system that will help detect cases early. The story was the same for Neo-Natal Tetanus (NT) which Dr. Olusegun Babaniyi, WHO Country Representative for Tanzania, described as ''still a problem on the continent. He said there will be a complete disaster in three years if control activities continue at the present pace, pointing out that it has been realized that a lot of the cases are not reported in the hospitals or that existing health facilities are not enough for control activities which account for the zero reporting.