As I was preparing to travel to Ghana for a medical mission trip affiliated with CFHI, I was prompted by the health agency I will be working with that I will be required to get a yellow fever vaccination to enter the country. This is when I was made aware of the international shortage of the vaccine since the only company that manufactured it (Sanofi Pasteur) had suspended production of the vaccine temporarily at one of their mass production locations.
Yellow Fever is an acute viral disease caused by infection with the yellow fever virus and transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito. Symptoms of infection include fever, chills, flu like symptoms, nausea and vomiting progressing into worse symptoms such as heart, liver or kidney conditions without prompt medical attention.
I attempted to contact numerous travel clinics and was told that they were either out of the vaccine or I would have to wait for up to 2 months till the next available appointment or shipment of the vaccine from France due to pending FDA approval of the drug Stamaril which is a derivative of the vaccine produced in France.
I was finally able to obtain the vaccine 10 days prior to my departure for a cost of $210 and began to research on the efficacy of the vaccine and why it was required to gain entry into the country. In Ghana, the Ministry of Health reported outbreaks of yellow fever in three different districts; two deaths and one new case involving a 12-year-old boy from the Kassena-Nankana-West district who died within one week of displaying symptoms (reported in 2012). Travelers arriving to Ghana from the United States are required to be vaccinated at least 10 days prior to arrival in the country. From an epidemiology standpoint, this will decreases the risk of introducing this viral infection in other countries or acquiring it within the affected country.
In recent years, there has been a mandate by the CDC and WHO that requires this vaccination in order to gain entry into Ghana and some other nations with high prevalence of yellow fever cases. However the reinforcement of this public health concern is questionable. Multiple people have reported entry into Ghana without being vaccinated or are vaccinated upon entry to the country along with a fee paid at the airport (which renders a risk since the full effect of the vaccination is not activated till about 1.5 weeks post inoculation). I am also appalled by the fact that the citizens of Ghana know little about this viral illness hence vaccination rates within the country itself are low.
Due to the worldwide shortage, affected African nations that actually need the vaccinations to prevent the spread of this incurable illness have little to no access to the vaccination. In a world where technology, industry and medicine are inseparable, I am concerned about what that means for poor African nations with low health education and resource access. Many diseases that have been eradicated in first world nations still remain a threat to the people of the African continent due to lack of educational resources and health innovations. I am well aware that the continent is more prone to mosquito-borne illnesses as a result of the climate and environmental conditions that allow such species to thrive, which is even more reason for an interest in health care discoveries by the people who live in that region instead of being dependent on international healthcare agencies that seek to protect their own interests and national health.
I hope that we would one day become a people group that protects the health of our own by investing in healthcare and technological innovations that may do much more than merely cure us temporarily from diseases but instead completely eliminate endemic diseases that plague our beautiful continent due to the lack of the pursuit and dedication to healthcare research and technological innovation.