Recent high-profile outbreaks of infectious diseases such as Ebola and Zika have highlighted once again the devastating impacts that known viruses can have on populations. Faced with renewed threats caused by diseases whose epidemiology is evolving, the global health community must adapt its responses through better surveillance, prevention, and treatment.
One of those diseases is yellow fever, a mosquito-borne disease that emerged hundreds of years ago and is endemic to 33 countries in Africa and 11 countries in South America. While a successful vaccine was developed in the 1930s, reported cases have been on the rise due to increased movements of populations between rural and urban areas, and changing climate conditions, which have allowed mosquito populations to spread.
How can the global health community ramp up its efforts to safeguard the vaccine, including through the fostering of innovation, and stimulate vaccination programs to reach better coverage rates?
Continue reading the full multimedia feature story on safeguarding the future of yellow fever vaccination.
