{"id":4291,"date":"2016-05-10T06:27:32","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T10:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/2016\/05\/10\/yellow-fever-epidemic-poses-new-global-health-emergency\/"},"modified":"2017-07-08T12:36:10","modified_gmt":"2017-07-08T16:36:10","slug":"yellow-fever-epidemic-poses-new-global-health-emergency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=4291","title":{"rendered":"Yellow Fever Epidemic Poses New Global Health Emergency"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
LUANDA, Angola: Women grieve over the casket of a young boy who had died two days prior. The family said doctors had been uncertain whether the cause of death was yellow fever or malaria.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Evidence is mounting that the current outbreak of yellow fever is becoming the latest global health emergency, say two Georgetown University professors who call on the World Health Organization (WHO<\/span>) to convene an emergency committee under the International Health Regulations. In addition, with frequent emerging epidemics, they call for the creation of a \u201cstanding emergency committee\u201d to be prepared for future health emergencies.<\/p>\n

In their JAMA<\/span><\/a><\/em> Viewpoint published online 9 May, Daniel Lucey and Lawrence O. Gostin of the O\u2019Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law<\/a> at Georgetown, explain that the ongoing spread, and potential future spread, of yellow fever coupled with a limited vaccine supply should compel the WHO<\/span> to \u201curgently convene an emergency committee to mobilize funds, coordinate an international response, and spearhead a surge in vaccine production.\u201d<\/p>\n

GUMC<\/span> says<\/a> that an epidemic of yellow fever, first reported in January, has been spreading rapidly in Angola. As of last month, the country had 2,023 suspected yellow fever cases and 258 deaths. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO<\/span>) declared an epidemiological alert on 22 April for yellow fever in Latin America, where the Aedes aegypti mosquito vector is also actively transmitting Zika and dengue viruses.<\/p>\n

Vaccine \u201csupply shortages could spark a health security crisis,\u201d say the professors, pointing out that spread of yellow fever has already taken place in Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where efforts to vaccinate two million people are planned.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Acting proactively to address the evolving yellow fever epidemic is imperative,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n

Gostin and Lucey point out that an emergency committee meeting would allow its members to advise the Director-General on the epidemic and trigger discussions about a surge in vaccine production even if a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC<\/span>) is not declared.<\/p>\n

Finally, the professors say time has come to consider a more efficient way to manage potential public health emergencies.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>The complexities and apparent increased frequency of emerging infectious disease threats, and the catastrophic consequences of delays in the international response, make it no longer tenable to place sole responsibility and authority with the Director-General to convene currently ad hoc emergency committees,\u201d Lucey and Gostin write.<\/p>\n

Instead, they support establishing a \u201cstanding emergency committee\u201d that would meet regularly to advise the Director-General.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Read more in Daniel Lucey and Lawrence O. Gostin, \u201cA Yellow Fever Epidemic: A New Global Health Emergency?\u201d JAMA<\/span><\/a><\/em> (9 May 2016) (DOI<\/span>: 10.1001\/jama.2016.6606)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Evidence is mounting that the current outbreak of yellow fever is becoming the latest global health emergency, say two Georgetown University professors who call on the World Health Organization (WHO) to convene an emergency committee under the International Health Regulations. In addition, with frequent emerging epidemics, they call for the creation of a \u201cstanding emergency…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":6074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security-public-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4291"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6075,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4291\/revisions\/6075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}