Search

It is easy to presume that age's legal value rests in the autonomy and rights that accrue to the liberal (male, propertied) citizen who has reached the age of majority. But this is not universally so. In Spain's American colonies, legal age talk involved multiplying privileges rather than exclusionary subtraction. Few indigenous peoples, enslaved people of African descent, or members of the free casta poor tallied the years they had lived in a manner that meets modern standards of precision. Instead, the ages that Spanish American officials set down on paper in criminal trials, censuses, and freedom suits derived from complicated cultural equations, including reconciling local ethno-numeracies with European counting systems. For all its seeming imprecision, age was of critical importance to colonial Spanish Americans, since rather than guaranteeing access to rights, age was a language that colonial subjects used to turn legal incapacities into beneficial protections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Yellow fever (YF) is a vector-borne viral hemorrhagic disease endemic in Africa and Latin America. In 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed the Eliminate YF Epidemics strategy aiming at eliminating YF epidemics by 2026.Methods: We developed a spatiotemporal model of YF, accounting for the impact of temperature, vector distribution, and socioeconomic factors on disease transmission. We validated our model against previous estimates of YF basic reproductive number (R0). We used the model to estimate global risk of YF outbreaks and vaccination efforts needed to achieve elimination of YF epidemics.Results: We showed that the global risk of YF outbreaks is highly heterogeneous. High-risk transmission areas (R0 > 6) are mainly found in West Africa and the Equatorial region of Latin America. We showed that vaccination coverage needed to eliminate YF epidemics in an endemic country varies substantially between districts. In many endemic countries, a 90% vaccination coverage is needed to achieve elimination. However, in some high-risk districts in Africa, a 95% coverage may be required.Conclusions: Global elimination of YF epidemics requires higher population-level immunity than the 80% coverage recommended by the WHO. Optimal YF vaccination strategy should be tailored to the risk profile of each endemic country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]