Ghana is one of Africa’s success stories in the fight against yellow fever. We talk to two scientists leading the country’s immunization programme for this bonus episode. Dr Kwame Amponsa-Achiano from the Ghana Health Service and WHO’s Dr Fred Osei-Sarpong share their experience and insights on how engaging even the hard-to-reach communities has been crucial in curbing and containing outbreaks of the fatal disease in the country.
Jun 22, 2023
20 min
Yellow fever presents a clear and present danger to populations across Africa, with WHO teams and partners working hard to curb outbreaks across multiple African countries. The base of operation for the response coordination is Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou. For this episode, incident manager Dr Ado Bwaka and vaccination lead Dr Hadiatou Diallo join us from Burkina Faso to share their learnings.
Jul 21, 2022
31 min
What part do non-human primates, like monkeys and apes, play in the transmission of yellow fever? This episode focuses on monitoring and response work in the rainforests of Argentina, where yellow fever is present among howler monkeys - and can be passed on to humans. Dr María Morales and Dr Silvina Goenaga are from Argentina’s Institute for Human Viral Diseases (INEVH). Sound effects in this episode are obtained from zapsplat.com
Jul 7, 2022
16 min
Who determines whether suspected yellow fever cases can officially be declared an outbreak? We visit a research centre in Senegal that is at the heart of yellow fever diagnostics. The Institut Pasteur de Dakar is one of three regional reference laboratories for yellow fever in Africa that tests samples sent from across the continent. Dr Gamou Fall, head of IP Dakar's yellow fever Regional Reference Laboratory, takes us through that painstaking process
Jun 24, 2022
22 min
The Amazon rainforest is under increasing pressure from climate change, deforestation, extractive industries like mining, and a range of human-induced factors. This episode explores the public health impacts of human-induced pressures on the Amazon, including an increased risk of yellow fever outbreaks. With Dr Anice Sallum, medical epidemiology and entomology professor at Sao Paolo University’s School of Public Health, and Dr Amy Vittor, Assistant Professor in Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine at the University of Florida.
Jun 9, 2022
25 min
We focus on a disease-monitoring system that is literally out of this world. Dr Charalampos Kontoes - Research Director of Greece's National Observatory of Athens - coordinates an early warning system that tracks mosquitoes' movement using satellites. He tells us about the technology and how it's recently been given European money to expand and scale up the operation.
May 27, 2022
18 min
How do at-risk countries prepare to respond quickly in the event of a yellow fever outbreak in an urban area? Dr Linda Esso, a senior public health official from Cameroon, talks about the challenges her country faces in dealing proactively with the threat of yellow fever. We also hear from EYE's Dr Peter Mbondji who has developed guidelines to support countries with their readiness and response plans for urban outbreaks.
May 12, 2022
22 min
In this final episode of EYE on yellow fever, three key members of the EYE Partnership reflect on key themes from across the series. Also, in the face of COVID-19, global warming, the refugee crisis and increasing urbanisation, will EYE live up to the targets and goals it has set itself by its deadline of 2026? With Dr Christopher Gregory from UNICEF, Cassandra Quintanilla from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and EYE Secretariat lead Dr Laurence Cibrelus.
Dec 17, 2021
31 min
Nigeria is a yellow fever hotspot and a big focus for EYE activity. 97 million people have been vaccinated in the country since the EYE Strategy started. Prof Oyewale Tomori, president of the Nigerian Academy of Science and a former WHO Africa virologist, says that preventive yellow fever campaigns can protect economies as well as lives. He also discusses lessons learned from yellow fever campaigns that have helped in the fight against COVID-19.
Dec 3, 2021
17 min
Yellow fever and other disease outbreaks often beset vulnerable, conflict-affected places. This increases risk, and makes prevention and response more complex. The challenging reality of tackling infectious disease in humanitarian settings, with Dr Jorge Castilla, the World Health Organization’s Senior Coordinator for Health Emergency Response, and Dr Daniela Garone, International Medical Coordinator for Medicins Sans Frontiers.
Nov 19, 2021
25 min
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