Surveillance and control of resurgent yaws in the African region

Abstract

Yaws, once one of the most common infections in Africa, was expected to be eliminated in some countries and controlled in others after the mass treatment campaigns sponsored by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund during the 1950s and 1960s and the implementation of improvements in education, sanitation, and other health-promoting activities. However, the curtailment of yaws control activity allowed the reservoir of untreated yaws to grow unchecked, and the number of reported cases of active yaws has increased in certain parts of Africa, especially in West Africa. In the Central African Republic, the prevalence of yaws is notably high among the Pygmies. Renewed programs for yaws control are under consideration. Mass campaigns are still necessary in some developing countries for the control of certain diseases but should be complementary to the development of general health services and should not be limited to the administrative borders of a given country.