AUTHORS
Ioana D Olaru, Sekesai Mtapuri-Zinyowera, Nicholas Feasey, Rashida A Ferrand, Katharina Kranzer
ABSTRACT
Zimbabwe carried out a mass TCV vaccination campaign in February to March, 2019, funded by Gavi, that targeted children aged between 6 months and 15 years in communities affected by an ongoing typhoid outbreak. It was the first time TCV was used in Africa and the first vaccination campaign in response to a typhoid outbreak in the continent. Outbreaks of cholera and typhoid in Zimbabwe result from a lack of investment in and management of the country’s water and sanitation infrastructure and health-care system. Additionally, low availability of diagnostics and drugs, brain drain (emigration of highly qualified individuals from a country), prohibitive user fees in health facilities, and strikes by medical personnel have contributed to the most recent outbreak of typhoid.
Click here to read the article, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
