Health ministry set for yellow fever vaccination in Busoga

JINJA - The Ministry of Health is set to conduct a mass yellow fever vaccination exercise in Busoga.

This has been announced by Beatrice Mutonyi, a senior nurse at the division of vaccines and immunisation under the national disease control programme/department at the health ministry.

Mutonyi said the exercise follows investigations at the Uganda Virus Research Institute, which confirmed that the samples from a case in Kibuku tested positive for yellow fever.

Government, she revealed, was embarking on the campaign in a phased manner, starting with the highest risk regions such as West Nile since 2020, followed by Acholi, Lira, Karamoja and Teso.

Accordingly, she said they conducted related campaigns in some neighbouring districts of Kaliro, Namutumba, Kibuku, Butaleja, Budaka and Mbale in efforts to locate contacts since they (contacts) had not been identified.

Mutonyi added that health teams were investigating contacts of the deceased to determine more interventions and sensitisation to ensure that the rest of the community members were protected against the virus that causes yellow fever.

According to preparations, the vaccination exercise is expected to commence during the last week of this month to the first week of October, with a targeted population of children from one year to adults aged 60.

Mutonyi added that under this campaign, they were also targeting students, teachers and instructors in schools, tertiary institutions, including teachers, instructors and lecturers, provided they fall under the age group.

She made the revelation on the sidelines of the Busoga integrated regional performance review meeting at Paradise Hotel in Jinja city recently.

The exercise, which is being supported with funding from Gavi, has been held since Uganda was in the belt of the yellow fever epidemic.

According to Mutonyi, yellow fever is caused by a virus which is usually transmitted by monkeys in forests, and most of the time, the disease affects lumberjacks (people who cut trees) in forests.

While in such places, she said, people were fond of being beaten by mosquitoes that cause the dangerous yellow fever disease, which she said has no treatment apart from vaccination.