What It Will Take to End Yellow Fever Epidemics

Uganda’s health ministry has launched a campaign to end yellow fever epidemics in the country by 2026. According to the CDC, about 30,000 people die from yellow fever each year, with approximately 90% in Africa. Infants and the elderly are most at risk. So the impact of this disease is more heavily felt by women, who are most often burdened with caregiving.  On today’s episode of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, we visit Uganda, one of 27 high-risk countries in Africa working with the World Health Organization and other partners to try to end yellow fever epidemics by 2026. First, reporter Leah Kahunde helps us better understand the state of yellow fever in Uganda. She speaks with health journalist Beatrice Nyangoma, whose investigative reporting forced officials to confront flaws in their vaccination procedures. Then, host Reena Ninan talks to two WHO experts about Uganda’s current yellow fever vaccination campaign: Dr. Pamela Bakkabulindi, an immunization consultant in Uganda with the World Health Organization, and Dr. Kwame Amponsa-Achiano, deputy director for Disease Control and program manager for the Expanded Program on Immunization at the Ghana Health Service. If you’d like to learn more about WHO’s vision to eliminate yellow fever epidemics, also known as their EYE strategy, you can check out their podcast, “EYE on Yellow Fever.” The EYE Strategy’s overarching goal is to eliminate all yellow fever epidemics by 2026 and protect almost 1 billion people against this deadly disease. https://podcasts.apple.com/fr/podcast/eye-on-yellow-fever/id1578908498 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices