Kenya pushes back yellow fever outbreak while diagnostic capacity improves outcomes across Africa
Kenya pushes back yellow fever outbreak while diagnostic capacity improves outcomes across Africa
14 June 2022
A cross-section of health workers who have been trained to detect and reported suspected cases of yellow fever. Credit: Mike Mwaniki.
Yellow fever cases are on the rise again, driven by an interruption in vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yellow fever cases are on the rise again, driven by an interruption in vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic. But countries affected are responding swiftly, controlling outbreaks through vastly improved diagnostic testing and an emphasis on yellow fever vaccinations for those who are most vulnerable.
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IFFIm impact: Yellow fever
IFFIm has contributed US$ 245 million for yellow fever control which includes US$ 67.9 million in 2022 and US$ 43.6 million in 2021 to help countries respond to new cases.
An acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by mosquitoes, yellow fever causes devastating epidemics in areas with low vaccination rates. Death rates can be as high as 50%. Fortunately, yellow fever can be prevented by a safe, affordable and highly effective vaccine. A single dose leads to long-term, probably even lifelong, immunity in 99% of people vaccinated.
IFFIm has been a major contributor to Gavi’s yellow fever control programmes, and has, to-date, disbursed US$ 245 million to Gavi for yellow fever control (routine immunisation, yellow fever campaigns, and yellow fever stockpiles) which includes recent disbursements of US$ 67.9 million in 2022 and US$ 43.6 million in 2021 to help countries respond to new cases.
Prompt intervention in Kenya
Kenya recently reported its first yellow cases in more than a decade. In March 2022, the country’s Ministry of Health issued a yellow fever outbreak alert following the death of three people in Isiolo County, which had recorded its first case in January. Gavi and WHO are now helping deploy yellow fever vaccines in the affected regions.
Kenya’s Health Ministry is managing the outbreak by deployed a rapid response team of doctors, epidemiologists, marketing and data collection staff and entomologists.
Abdi Guyo, who lives in Isiolo’s Garbatulla sub-county, says people in the area are eager to be vaccinated so they can protect themselves against yellow fever. “The majority of the people in this area are pastoralists who move from place to place in search of pasture and water for their livestock and we are therefore appealing to the Health Ministry to move with speed and initiate yellow fever vaccinations.”
Improved diagnostics save lives and resources
Gavi‘s major expansion in yellow fever diagnostic capacity in Africa has vastly improved tracking of the disease over the past three years, avoiding the expense of emergency vaccination campaigns and preventing further spread.
Data from these diagnostic tests are being used to drive crucial immunisation programme decisions, saving lives and conserving health care resources. In the last three years, diagnostic data prompted Uganda, a country at high risk, to introduce the yellow fever vaccine into its routine immunisation programmes. Diagnostic data also provided a course correction by showing that at least three disease outbreaks suspected of being yellow fever in various countries were not in fact yellow fever. This information saved millions of dollars in resources that might have been spent on unnecessary yellow fever outbreak response campaigns.
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