( be at least 60 to 80 per cent accordi...)WHO Launches Yellow Fever Initiative for West Africa,Health

be at least 60 to 80 per cent, according to WHO. Until now, though, the vaccine has often been too expensive in light of a host of competing health problems and coverage rates in some West African countries are critically low, the agency said.

In Nigeria, for example, the coverage rate in 2005 was estimated at 36 per cent.

Between the 1940s and 1960s, widespread mass vaccination campaigns in some African countries had resulted in the almost-complete disappearance of yellow fever, an acute viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes that may kill up to 50 per cent of those with severe cases, WHO said.

However, as immunization campaigns waned, a generation of people grew up with no immunity to the disease, and by the 1990s the number of annual cases had risen to an estimated 200,000 per year, with 30,000 deaths, and urban outbreaks were starting to occur.

"As we see more people moving to cities for work, but returning to their rural villages from time to time, we also see the possibility of Yellow Fever epidemics multiply," said Sylvie Briand, Project Manager of the Yellow Fever Initiative in WHO.

Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo are the countries covered by the initiative.


'"/>




Page: 1 2
Related medicine news :

1. Ajanta Launches Worlds First Once-A-Day Nimesulide Oral Formulation
2. Serum Institute Launches New Tetanus-Diphtheria Vaccine
3. Scottish Health Minister Launches Organ Donor Plan
4. Pfizer Launches Viagra For Lung Disease In UK
5. Ranbaxy Launches Once-a-day Inhaler For Asthma Patients
6. PM Launches Healthcare Foundation For India
7. African Union Launches A Programme On Acceleration of HIV Prevention
8. Yale School of Medicine Launches Telemonitoring Of Heart Failure Symptoms
9. Prince Harry Launches AIDS Charity In Memory Of Princess Diana
10. The British Medical Journal Launches A Health Website
11. APEC Launches Bird Flu Exercise