ECHO humanitarian assistance

The European Community's humanitarian office (ECHO) said this week it had agreed to an allocation equivalent to US $613,000 to help fight a meningitis epidemic in Guinea Bissau and neighbouring Senegal. The funds were being used to purchase 600,000 doses of vaccine, and finance a vaccination campaign. In a statement from its office in Dakar, Senegal, ECHO said the epidemic had started at the beginning of the year in the east of Guinea Bissau before reaching an "explosive" level in March affecting eight of the country's 10 provinces. ECHO said it was also providing funds to help NGOs fight the epidemic. "ECHO and its partners have pooled their efforts with other agencies like WHO, French and Portuguese groups, as well as MSF, in an operation coordinated by the health ministry's epidemiology department," it said.