The Ministry of Health of Chad is launching an emergency mass-vaccination campaign against yellow fever from 22 February 2013, following laboratory confirmation of two cases in the country in December 2012. The two cases from Goz Beida and Guereda districts, were laboratory confirmation by a WHO regional reference laboratory for yellow fever, Institut Pasteur in Dakar, Senegal.  They were identified through the national surveillance programme for yellow fever, following intensive surveillance which was triggered in response to the outbreak of yellow fever in neighbouring Sudan’s Darfur region.  The intensive surveillance in Chad also reported 139 suspected cases and 9 deaths.

The vaccination campaign will be conducted in 3 districts bordering Darfur, Sudan, namely Goz Beida, Guereda and Adré, targeting over a million people, including inhabitants of refugee camps in the area.  The campaign is supported by the Chad’s Ministry of Health, the International Coordinating Group on Yellow Fever Vaccine Provision (YF-ICG1¹), and GAVI Alliance