| Listen to our latest podcast episode on Ghana No images? Click here  Launch of the yellow fever preventive mass vaccination campaign, June 8th 2023, Uganda EYE Strategy June newsletterCorrection EYE on Yellow Fever podcast Bonus episode: Ghana: A yellow fever success storyGhana is seen as one of Africa’s success stories in the fight against yellow fever. We talk to two scientists leading the country’s immunization programme for this bonus episode. Dr Kwame Amponsa-Achiano from the Ghana Health Service and WHO’s Dr Fred Osei-Sarpong share their experience and insights on how engaging even the hard-to-reach communities has been crucial in curbing and containing outbreaks of the fatal disease in the country. Ghana has important lessons to share about its journey with other high-risk countries, especially its work with Civil Society Organization's (CSOs) and overcoming vaccine hesitancy and misinformation.  To hear this and all previous episodes, you can click here. Use the following links to listen to the podcast in your favourite app. Podcast on Spotify | Podcast on Apple | Podcast on Deezer | Podcast on Amazon | Podcast on Google | Podcast on Gaana Uganda’s introduction of yellow fever vaccine into routine immunization (RI) - a video by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance  Uganda completed the rollout of YF vaccine into its RI programme in October 2022. This has been a great achievement by the country and for the EYE Strategy, as Uganda is the second of four countries that were pending to introduce YF into their RI from the start of the Strategy. A film crew captured some of the immunization activities earlier this year. Click here to watch the film. A thank you to our partner, Gavi, for documenting this milestone. Click here to watch the film. Gavi ‘Raising Generational ImmUnity’ conference  Seth Berkley – former CEO of Gavi - speaking at the Raising Generational ImmUnity conference The Global Vaccine Impact Conference, co-hosted by the Government of Spain, was held in June and convened world leaders and immunization experts to take stock of Gavi’s progress against key objectives and develop strategies to address the challenges and opportunities of the future. The conference's theme was "Raising Generation ImmUnity" to celebrate the Vaccine Alliance's achievement in protecting a whole generation of children from potentially fatal infectious diseases since 2000. In a speech on climate change and pandemic preparedness and response, Seth Berkley – former CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance – mentioned that “...by 2050, there will be an increase by 25% of yellow fever cases, because of the spread of the vector.” Country updatesReactive Vaccination Campaigns (RVCs)All RVCs are approved by the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision (ICG) and supported by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Central African Republic (CAR) Following one confirmed case of a worker in a forest area, an RVC was confirmed to target ~ 233,400 people for protection against YF. The vaccination campaign will target the resident population and seasonal workers conducting forest activities. The campaign is planned for August. Cameroon A post-campaign coverage survey has been undertaken following multi-antigen vaccination campaigns to protect 545,763 from yellow fever, in three districts: Fumbot, Malentouen, and Ngaoundéré Urbain. Post-campaign coverage surveys provide an added layer of detail to vaccination campaign reports, which show overall numbers of people vaccinated, geography and age. Post-campaign coverage surveys also determine the sex and individual ages of people vaccinated. Bolivia     Images from the Bolivian communication campaign to raise awareness of the yellow fever vaccination campaigns in April & May 2023 © Pan American Health Office (PAHO) During the Vaccination Week in the Americas (April to May 2023), with the support of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), vaccination strategies against yellow fever were intensified. The Expanded Program on Immunization administered 89,162 doses of the vaccine to protect people between the ages of 1 and 59 years throughout the country. Particular emphasis was placed on municipalities at high risk of yellow fever infection: Beni, La Paz, Santa Cruz and Cochabamba. A communication campaign was implemented to encourage acceptance of the vaccine, which resulted in support for outbreak controls and awareness-raising and information for domestic travelers, according to the epidemiological profile of affected populations. See campaign photos above. Preventive mass vaccination campaigns (PMVCs)       Launch of the yellow fever vaccination campaigns on June 8th, 2023, including attendance by Dr Jane Aceng (Health Minister, Uganda) Uganda Following last year’s successful introduction of the YF vaccine into Uganda’s routine immunization (RI) programme, the country’s multi-year YF PMVC began on 9th June. Three phases of the PMVC are planned. Phase one in June 2023; phase two will be implemented in October 2023, and phase 3 in October 2024. The first phase of the vaccination campaign covering 51 districts in six regions (Kabale, Kabarole, Hoima, Lira, Gulu, and Arua) is almost complete. It is targeting ~13,397,640 people, which amounts to 93% of the population in five of the 51 districts. Persons of ages 9 months to 60 years were included in the campaign, as well as the refugee population. Phase two will cover the districts of Buikwe and Buvuma. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) YF vaccination campaigns in Lomami, Kasai and Central Kasai will be combined with measles round 1 for improved efficiency and are due to begin in August 2023. In total, 17 million people are anticipated to have been protected in these districts. Further PMVCs in Kongo Central, Kwango, Kwilu, and Mai Ndombe are due to take place in October 2023. Nigeria All states with planned vaccination campaigns for 2022 have now been completed. Borno state, which was not fully covered by vaccination campaigns in previous years due to security concerns, now plans to vaccinate the unprotected parts of the state this year, as the situation has improved. More information will be provided in due course. Meet the Partners  Dr Jean Luc M. Kagayo – Health Specialist, Focal person for Yellow Fever and Meningitis at Program Division, UNICEF HQ Dr Jean Luc is a medical doctor from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, currently based in Nairobi. He is completing his PhD in Social Science, International Relations (Diplomacy) at IFG France. He also has three Masters’ degrees in public health (Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France); International Relations (Institut Diplomatique de Paris, France), and Program Management (2ie, Burkina Faso). Dr Kagayo has been working in humanitarian roles for more than sixteen years. Prior to this role, he held various positions including Supplementary Immunization Activities Co-ordinator with UNICEF South Sudan, where he supported the implementation of the Polio Eradication Programme, measles control, and the Tetanus elimination agenda. He was also part of the Global Emergency Response with Save the Children, where he was on continuous stand-by for imminent deployment to humanitarian situations worldwide. He has also served as Deputy Country Director with Médecins Sans Frontiers in Chad. Publications Strengthening the global architecture for health emergency prevention, preparedness, response and resilience Expanding on the Director-General’s report to the World Health Assembly in May 2023, this paper provides a two-part summary of the initiatives that are now underway to strengthen the global health emergency preparedness and response (HEPR) architecture. Part I provides an overview of the Member-State driven processes to reform the governance of HEPR at the global level; new mechanisms to secure sustainable financing for healthemergency preparedness and response; and introduces a new concept – the five Cs – that will guide the strengthening of the national, regional and global operational systems of HEPR. Part II provides a more detailed exploration of each of the five Cs, and the next steps that we must take to accelerate the implementation of the HEPR framework at the national level, in order to meet the pressing needs of communities affected by and at risk of health emergencies now and in the years to come. The State of the World’s Children 2023 – report by UNICEF New data indicates declining confidence in childhood vaccines of up to 44 percentage points in some countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. A new UNICEF report shows that 67 million children missed out on one or more vaccinations over three years due to service disruption caused by strained health systems and diversion of scarce resources, conflict and fragility, and decreased confidence. However, there is positive news as signs of a recovery emerge. To read the press release on the current status of childhood immunizations, please click here. Events  Technical Advisory Group on Arbovirus (TAG) meeting, Accra, Ghana The Global Arbovirus Initiative (GLAI) was launched last year in March to tackle emerging and re-emerging arboviruses with epidemic and pandemic potential. The initiative is a collaborative effort between the World Health Organization’s World Health Emergencies Programme, Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases, and Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals Department. The Technical Advisory Group on Arbovirus (who.int) met for its first in-person meeting in Accra, Ghana on June 20-22, 2023. The WHO Secretariat provided an update on its main activities relating to the implementation of GLAI, and the TAG members provided recommendations on the priority actions on arboviruses in coming years:
‘Why Gender Matters’ webinar series (organised by WHO’s Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals Department) Members of the EYE Secretariat have been attending this webinar series. These knowledge sharing sessions will help to inform actions arising from the EYE Strategy mid-term evaluation recommendations; one of which is to have a greater focus on gender and human rights in the implementation of the EYE Strategy. For more information, please see https://www.who.int/teams/immunization-vaccines-and-biologicals/gender Selection of participants to a joint TDR-GBIF training workshop on data sharing on vectors to prevent and control vector-borne diseases within the context of multisectoral approaches Deadline for submission: 30 July 2023, 5pm (Thailand Time) To increase community capacity for sharing data on organisms that serve as vectors of human diseases, Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and TDR (Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases) will host a two-day training workshop, on 24–25 November 2023, prior to the Asia Pacific Conference on Mosquito and Vector Control (AMV) held in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The organizers encourage individuals from low- and middle-income countries who wish to improve their skills in handling biodiversity data linked to vector-borne diseases to apply by 30 July 2023 at 17:00 ICT (UTC +7) for a chance to have their participation sponsored by TDR. Interested candidates should consult the call for complete details, including eligibility and application process. Candidates can expect to receive notification of their selection no later than 30 days after the deadline. For more details and to apply, click here.  Tell us your news!We would love to showcase the work you are doing on protecting people from yellow fever. To submit your news, stories, photos and videos, please email EYE.strategy@who.int.  To subscribe to this newsletter, click here.      To read the EYE Strategy, click here |
EYE Strategy June 2023 newsletter
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