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Yellow fever vaccination campaign to prevent outbreaks in Ghana

The Ghanaian Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service, with support from UNICEF, WHO, Gavi and partners, undertook a preventive mass yellow fever vaccination campaign from 12–18 November.

30 November 2020
2 min read
by Elinore Court
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<article> <h1> <span>Yellow fever vaccination campaign to prevent outbreaks in Ghana</span> </h1> <div><p>The Ghanaian Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service, with support from UNICEF, WHO, Gavi and partners, undertook a preventive mass yellow fever vaccination campaign from 12–18 November.</p> </div> <ul> <li> <b>30 November 2020</b> </li> <li> <b class="me-2">by</b> <span> <a href="https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/authors/elinore-court" hreflang="en">Elinore Court</a> </span> </li> </ul> <div> <div> <div> <a href="https://www.gavi.org#gallery" class="btn -orange">View photo gallery</a> </div> </div> <div> <span data-type="column" data-id="92101"></span> <div> <div> <div> <div> <p>The campaign focused on people aged between 10 and 60 and covered 139 districts at the highest risk of a yellow fever outbreak, as well as 2 districts with low vaccination rates. Within seven days, the majority of those eligible had been vaccinated, ensuring high population immunity for the people of Ghana.</p> <p>The vaccination sessions took place in health centres and temporary posts in markets, bus stations, churches and Municipal and District Assemblies. Traditional leaders, community leaders, youth leaders and women’s groups in the selected districts raised awareness and ensured a high turnout rate to keep their districts protected from yellow fever.</p> <blockquote> <h2>Routine childhood immunisation and preventive mass vaccination campaigns protect populations at risk of yellow fever and lessen the need for an emergency response.</h2> </blockquote> <p>An acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by mosquitoes, yellow fever causes devastating epidemics in areas where infected mosquitoes can come into contact with people who are not vaccinated. Death rates can be as high as 50% among those severely affected.</p> <p>The disease can be prevented by a safe, affordable and highly effective vaccine. One injection protects an individual for at least 35 years, and possibly for life.</p> <p><span id="gallery"> </span></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <span data-type="column" data-id="92086"></span> </div> <div> <div> <h2>Photo gallery</h2> <div> <ul><li> <img src="/sites/default/files/vaccineswork/2020/Thumbnail/RS33648_Photo-13_h2.jpg" width="1080" height="720" alt="10-year-old Doris is vaccinated against yellow fever at the St Dominic Hospital in Denkyembour in the Eastern Region of Ghana. ©UNICEF/MILLS" loading="lazy"> </li><li> <img src="/sites/default/files/vaccineswork/2020/Thumbnail/RS33649_Photo-14_h2.jpg" width="1080" height="720" alt="Justice shows his yellow fever vaccination card. His grandmother came with him so he could be vaccinated against yellow fever. ©UNICEF/MILLS" loading="lazy"> </li><li> <img src="/sites/default/files/vaccineswork/2020/Thumbnail/RS33650_Photo-15_h2.jpg" width="800" height="533" alt="Dr Peter Baffoe, UNICEF Health Specialist, explains the importance of the yellow fever vaccine to 10-year-old Doris. ©UNICEF/MILLS" loading="lazy"> </li><li> <img src="/sites/default/files/vaccineswork/2020/Thumbnail/RS33651_Photo-18_h2.jpg" width="1080" height="720" alt="Sandra and Joyce show off their yellow fever vaccination card. ©UNICEF/MILLS" loading="lazy"> </li><li> <img src="/sites/default/files/vaccineswork/2020/Thumbnail/RS33652_Photo-19_h2.jpg" width="1000" height="667" alt="Dr Peter Baffoe, UNICEF Health Specialist, inspects the status of yellow fever vaccines in a cold room. ©UNICEF/MILLS" loading="lazy"> </li><li> <img src="/sites/default/files/vaccineswork/2020/Thumbnail/RS33653_Photo-20_h2.jpg" width="1080" height="720" alt="UNICEF Health Officials Josephine Agborson and Dr Peter Baffoe monitor progress of the yellow fever campaign in Kukurantumi in the Eastern Region. ©UNICEF/MILLS" loading="lazy"> </li><li> <img src="/sites/default/files/vaccineswork/2020/Thumbnail/RS33646_Photo-10_h2.jpg" width="1080" height="720" alt="A poster showing information about the yellow fever campaign in the Eastern Region of Ghana. ©UNICEF/MILLS" loading="lazy"> </li><li> <img src="/sites/default/files/vaccineswork/2020/Thumbnail/Photo-22_h2.jpg" width="1080" height="718" alt="A woman in the Fulani settlement in Daboya in the Savannah Region of Ghana shows off her yellow fever card. ©UNICEF/BUTA" loading="lazy"> </li></ul> </div> <div> <span class="btn js-btn -white">Load more</span> </div> </div> </div> </div> <p> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/yellow-fever-vaccination-campaign-prevent-outbreaks-ghana">Original article</a> </p><p>This article was originally published on <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork">VaccinesWork</a> </p><script>(function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start': new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src= 'https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f); })(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-M7H54VD');</script><noscript><iframe src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-M7H54VD" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript></article>

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The campaign focused on people aged between 10 and 60 and covered 139 districts at the highest risk of a yellow fever outbreak, as well as 2 districts with low vaccination rates. Within seven days, the majority of those eligible had been vaccinated, ensuring high population immunity for the people of Ghana.

The vaccination sessions took place in health centres and temporary posts in markets, bus stations, churches and Municipal and District Assemblies. Traditional leaders, community leaders, youth leaders and women’s groups in the selected districts raised awareness and ensured a high turnout rate to keep their districts protected from yellow fever.

Routine childhood immunisation and preventive mass vaccination campaigns protect populations at risk of yellow fever and lessen the need for an emergency response.

An acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by mosquitoes, yellow fever causes devastating epidemics in areas where infected mosquitoes can come into contact with people who are not vaccinated. Death rates can be as high as 50% among those severely affected.

The disease can be prevented by a safe, affordable and highly effective vaccine. One injection protects an individual for at least 35 years, and possibly for life.