Mozambique: Health authorities roll out yellow fever checks, vaccination for travellers

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Mozambique: Health authorities roll out yellow fever checks, vaccination for travellers

2:33 CAT | 20 May 2016

Getty (File photo)

Mozambican health authorities have announced that they have started checking travellers visiting the country from countries that have registered cases of yellow fever in order to prevent the possible spread of the disease to Mozambique.

National Director of Public Health Francisco Mbofana said that apart from Angola (2,267 suspected cases and 293 deaths), the Democratic Republic of Congo (42 cases), Kenya (2) and China (11) have also reported cases of the disease, with some unconfirmed cases in Uganda.

As Mobofana points out, the free movement of people in a globalized world means there is always the risk of the disease spreading, and in Mozambique’s case, close links with Angola, including direct flights, justify precautionary measures.

Among the measures adopted are the requirement for visitors from at-risk countries to be vaccinated ten days in advance, and for travellers passing through at-risk countries to have proof of immunization.

According to International Health Regulations, travellers who have not been immunized in their country of origin may be vaccinated at the land or air border if they then submit to a set of recommendations and procedures while in the country.

“In terms of intervention, we are vaccinating those travelling to areas at risk of infection. We are not immunizing citizens as a preventive measure, because we do not have an outbreak of yellow fever,” Mobofana explained.

In Angola, the government undertook the vaccination of seven million inhabitants, because it faces the reality of a virus still circulating in some districts spreading easily throughout the country.

The Mozambican Health Ministry, Mobofana said, was responsible for making the vaccine available in all provincial capitals, in order to meet the needs of members of the public wishing to travel to at-risk areas.

Mbofana said that while Mozambique has no recorded cases of yellow fever, there may be infected individuals in the country who have not developed symptoms.

Yellow fever is one of the set of diseases known as hemorrhagic in its acute phase, but which manifests initially with fatigue and general malaise.

According to the World Health Organization, up to the 17th of this month a cumulative total of 2,373 suspected cases had been notified, of which 744 were confirmed and 293 fatal, all of the deaths occurring in Angola.

Source: Notícias