According to a World Health Organization (WHO) Situation Report as of May 19, 60 suspect cases, of which seven are laboratory confirmed, have been reported from three districts: Masaka, Rukungiri and Kalangala. According to sequencing results, those clusters are not epidemiologically linked to Angola.
This prompted a mass yellow fever vaccination campaign, which commenced over the weekend in Masaka and Rukungiri districts. The preparation for Kalangala district is in progress.
All people aged 6 months and above were targeted for vaccination free of charge. This includes some 700,000 people in the three districts.
Masaka district was the first to confirm the outbreak on April 8th and since then the Ministry of Health, WHO and partners instituted response measures including provision of supportive and prompt treatment, strengthened surveillance, creation of public awareness, mapping of mosquito vectors in the three districts and carried out an epidemiological assessment to identify other high risk districts.
It is on top of the above measures that a four-day mass vaccination campaign was implemented with the objective of reaching at least 90% of the targeted population to interrupt transmission. Therefore, Minister of Health Dr Elioda Tumwesigye appealed to the population in other districts “not to flock to the affected districts and to give a chance to the people of Masaka, Rukungiri and Kalangala to get vaccinated because they are the population most at risk”.
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