Fake Yellow Fever certificates sold in Zimbabwe

FAKE World Health Organisation (WHO) Yellow Fever International Certificates of Vaccination are being openly sold on the black market at long distance bus terminuses in Zambia and Zimbabwe, risking the health of scores of cross border travellers who buy these counterfeit certificates.

Yellow Fever which is one of the diseases subject to WHO international regulations is a viral disease common in some parts of Africa and South America.

The disease is transmitted to humans through a female mosquito bite and some countries require a yellow fever vaccination certificate for all travellers coming from either areas infected with the disease or areas where transmission has occurred even though there may be no risk of becoming infected while travelling in the affected countries.

Only two SADC countries, Tanzania and South Africa, reportedly insist on the provision of the certificates before certain travellers enter their countries.

In Zimbabwe travellers are only issued with the certificate after being administered with the vaccine either at private surgeries or at a government or any other health centre.

But because of the high cost of the vaccine, most travellers prefer to acquire the certificate from the black market where one can easily get the medical document for as little as $5 while the drug costs between $50 and $70 in private pharmacies.

“I was forced to buy the fake card last week from a tout at Lusaka bus terminus. The tout convinced me that if I don’t buy the card, Tanzanian immigration officials were not going to let me into their country without the card,” said Moses Lindela who travelled to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam to collect his car.

Lindela said he only realised that the card was fake when he presented it to immigration officials at Tunduma border post. He was lucky as the officers did not endorse the passport but referred him to a mobile clinic at the border post where he was issued with a genuine certificate after being vaccinated.

Another traveller, Charity Rakapeta, said she bought the fake certificate at Harare Road Port last year after she failed to raise enough money for vaccination at a private surgery.

“All the clinics which I visited had run out of the vaccine and the nurses advised me to get it from private pharmacies. But just because I could not afford the charges at the private pharmacies, I ended up buying the cheap fake certificate at Road Port,” said Rakapeta.

Some Zimbabwean travellers have run into serious trouble at ports of entry in Tanzania after acquiring the fraudulent certificates which have got fake WHO logos and fake doctor stamps and seals.

Close to 900 million people live in areas at the risk of the disease which has no cure.

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WHO investigating reports that Ebola may have infected ISIS camp in Mosul

ARTICLE | JANUARY 3, 2015 - 8:44AM

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is investigating reports that ISIS militants have been showing up at an Iraqi hospital with Ebola.

According to three media outlets, an undisclosed number of militants displaying signs of the disease attended a hospital in the ISIS-held city of Mosul, 250 miles north of Baghdad.

While the reports, from Kurdish and pro-Iraqi sources, remain unconfirmed, WHO spokesman, Christy Feig, said the group is trying to reach out to officials in ISIS-held areas to offer help.

UN workers are currently banned from entering ISIS-controlled areas in both Iraq and Syria so it is unlikely an operation in the region could be carried out.

Ms. Feig told Mashable: ‘We have no official notification from [the Iraqi government that it is Ebola.’

The symptoms of Ebola are similar to those of other diseases including malaria and yellow fever.

Mosul has been under control of ISIS since June 2014 and over the past few weeks, militants have reportedly executed more than a dozen doctors for refusing to treat injured fighters.

According to a report in Iraq’s pro-government newspaper, al Sabaah, the disease was brought to Mosul by ‘terrorists’ arriving ‘from several countries’ and Africa.

The symptoms of Ebola, which include nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, bleeding and bruising, are similar to those of other diseases including malaria and yellow fever meaning it could easily have been misdiagnosed.

In addition, very few ISIS fighters are believed to have travelled up from West Africa where the Ebola outbreak originated with most coming from areas where there have been no reports of the disease.

The reports have appeared in pro-government and Kurdish media but if true, it could have catastrophic implications for people in ISIS-held areas as the group is against western science and medicine.

It is not known if any of the surviving doctors in Mosul are equipped to test for Ebola or trained to treat patients and prevent the spread of the disease.

ISIS fighters pictured in June 2014, when the extremist group swept through Iraq seizing territory including the city of Mosul

Yesterday the United States and its allies staged 29 air strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq on Wednesday, the Combined Joint Task Force said.

The action in Syria included 17 strikes near the cities of Al Raqqah, Dayr az Zawr and Kobani. A variety of Islamic State buildings, fighting positions and units were hit.

In Iraq, 12 strikes targeted Islamic State buildings, fighting positions and units near the cities of Mosul, Fallujah and Sinjar.

Fighters, bombs and remotely controlled aircraft were used.

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Zambia, South Africa yet to resolve yellow fever impasse

DOREEN NAWA, Lusaka
ZAMBIA’S drive to banish yellow fever from its territory is now a reality and the country has been declared yellow fever free.
When Zambia started the yellow fever immunisation decades ago, little did people know that the ambition would yield positive results and see Zambia declared a yellow fever free zone.
Nobody enjoys injections and so it seemed particularly wonderful to get all travel documents ready and get off to either the airport or any place of departure.
Now that World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared Zambia as yellow fever free zone, the move is welcome news to many who feel it will ease the hustle that those leaving and entering Zambia had to face.
And with the current economic difficulties, the immunisation programme experienced several setbacks, including the illegal access of certification, as most would-be travellers preferred to go for unauthorised dealers.
Despite the declaration, scores of Zambians travelling mostly to South Africa are still purchasing the fake yellow fever certificates instead of administering the yellow fever vaccine, exposing the country to the deadly yellow fever epidemic.
Despite the WHO declaration, South African authorities still require that all visitors must be vaccinated against yellow fever and be able to produce a valid yellow fever certificate together with their passport at all points of entry and exit.
The yellow fever vaccine prevents the international spread of the disease by protecting countries from the risk of importing or spreading the yellow fever virus. It also protects individual travelers, who may be exposed to yellow fever infection.
“We have recently been made aware that Zambia has been declared free of yellow fever by WHO. It seems that the authorities in South Africa are still enforcing the requirement that any person visiting from Zambia needs to obtain a yellow fever vaccination and certificate. It seems, however, that the two countries are in discussion following the announcement from WHO, and we need this resolved urgently because it is an inconvenience,” a Lusaka-based cross border trader Janet Bwalya said.
Yellow fever is a tropical viral disease affecting the liver and kidneys. It causes fever and jaundice and is often fatal. It is transmitted by mosquitoes and is incurable.
A check at the Lusaka Bus Intercity Station found vendors openly selling yellow fever vaccination certificates to Zambians who were buying tickets to travel to South Africa for recess.
The travellers, who were interviewed, said the yellow fever vaccine cost was high at the Lusaka District Health office and they had no choice but to purchase the fake certificate for K250.
Mr Chama Mwila, who was en route to Durban to collect a car shipped from Japan, said he chose to buy the fake yellow fever certificate instead of getting vaccinated so that he could cut his expenses.
“The yellow fever vaccine is unaffordable and the idea of an injection is not welcome. I hear WHO has declared Zambia yellow fever free but South Africa has not recognised that.
“Bus fare to Johannesburg costs K500, which adds to K800 if you get your yellow fever certificate from the authorised point but if you get from intercity, it will cost you K750 and you tend to save a K50, which one can [use to] buy food on the way. If you factor in the proper vaccine, the travelling costs can easily sky rocket,” he said.
A source at the Lusaka Urban District Health Management Team says the declaration is a welcome move as it will stop people from being duped by fraudsters claiming to be issuing certificates.
The source, who sought anonymity, said yellow fever was a lethal viral infection transmitted by mosquitoes and those that purchase yellow fever certificates fraudulently put their lives and the country at risk.
“If you purchase the yellow fever certificate through fraudulent means, you are endangering your health because in reality, your body system is not protected from the infection. Furthermore, once an infected person returns to the country with the infection, the whole country is susceptible to infection because once a mosquito bites an infected person and moves to another person, it will transmit the virus,” the source said.
The source further said if anyone were to be infected with yellow fever, the effects would be fatal for the whole country as we still have mosquitoes that have a potential of transferring the infection throughout the country.
“Yellow fever is incurable and now that we have been declared free zone, it is even better because before then, it was important that those going out should be inoculated, to protect the country against the potential scourge of yellow fever no matter how much the infection risks are said to be low,” she said.
Yellow fever is a disease caused by a flavivirus that is transmitted by the bite of an infected mosquito. It gets its name from the yellowing of the skin and eyes (jaundice) that occurs when the virus attacks the liver. Yellow fever can be prevented by a vaccine.
In November 2013, Zambia reported South Africa to WHO for demanding yellow fever certificates from travellers.
Samples from various parts of Zambia were taken to WHO and recently, Zambia was declared a yellow fever free zone.
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