Appeal for 7.5m doses of meningitis vaccine

An appeal on Saturday for 7.5 million doses of vaccine to halt the rapid spread of meningitis in Burkina Faso has drawn an immediate pledge of help from the World Health Organization (WHO).

"The World Health Organization is going to review its assistance in such an emergency situation," Dr Azara Bamba, the WHO resident representative, said.

So far, 587 people have died and at least 3,256 cases recorded. The secretary-general of the Ministry of Health, Mathias Some, warned on Saturday that the disease would spread throughout the country if urgent measures were not taken immediately.

Health authorities have started a countrywide vaccination drive with the two million doses available but voiced concern that they could soon run short. Much of the vaccination effort has been concentrated in the southwest and east of the country, the areas hardest hit by the epidemic.

The disease broke out in January in Gaoua, 270 km southwest of Ouagadougou, the nation's capital, then spread rapidly to the east. The government has declared 12 health districts epidemic zones. A similar epidemic in 1996 killed 4,000 people and affected 40,000 others. Meningitis affects the Sahelian countries each year between January and April, when the dry Sahara Desert wind blows south.