A yellow fever vaccination campaign targeting to reach 700,000 people in certain regions of Ethiopia has achieved 93% of its target amid the COVID-19 outbreak’s challenges, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced Monday.

The vaccination campaign was conducted last November in the country’s Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region (SNNPR) and Oromia region.

It aimed to put an end to the spread of a yellow fever outbreak that was first reported in Enor-Ener Woreda in the Gurage Zone of the SNNPR “by vaccinating eligible age groups in 12 woredas (districts), one of them in Oromia,” said the WHO statement.

Regarding the beginning of the campaign, the WHO said it was first conducted in March 2020 in 17 kebeles, or sub-districts, of Enor-Ener, bringing the outbreak rapidly under control.

“As we all work together to respond to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO works with the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, the Ethiopian Public Health Institute and regional health bureaus to support the continuation of essential health services like immunization and strengthen the response to other health emergencies such as this yellow fever outbreak,” the report quoted WHO Representative Dr. Boureima Hama Sambo as saying.

“We must address all health issues and emergencies to protect the health of the Ethiopian people,” Sambo added.

“The Ministry of Health’s Ethiopian Public Health Institute collaborated with the WHO and other immunization partners to launch the campaign in the 12 high-risk woredas in the two regions targeting populations aged 6 months to 50 years,” said the WHO.

A total of 86 cases and four deaths were reported in this outbreak, it added.

Yellow Fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease that causes symptoms including chills, fever, nausea, loss of appetite and muscle pain, especially in the back, and headaches./aa