Urgent meningitis meeting for Africa

The World Health Organisation has called its partners to an urgent meeting in Burkina Faso on 23-24 September to discuss a regional strategy for the meningitis belt in Africa. The meeting is also to address an international funding appeal for the purchase and provision of vaccines next year, and to strengthen surveillance and laboratory networks to help control the disease, WHO reported on Thursday. "The emergence of a newly epidemic strain of meningitis in West Africa earlier this year has given renewed urgency to the search for a more effective and affordable vaccine," the organisation said. "WHO and its partners will meet for urgent consultations to prepare for the likelihood of further outbreaks of a new strain in Africa, possibly as soon as next year." Meningitis epidemics occur periodically in the "meningitis belt" of Africa, which stretches from the West African coast to the Horn of Africa. The existing vaccine is effective against the A and C bacteria strains that have been responsible for most meningitis epidemics. However, it does not provide protection against a newly emerging epidemic strain, Burkina W135. "An outbreak of W135 in Burkina Faso, which began in February and continued until May infected more than 12 000 people and killed almost 1,500," the WHO stated. "This was the first time W135 had been identified as the primary cause of a major epidemic in Africa." The only available vaccine that protects against W135 is a "tetravalent" vaccine – which protects against four strains of meningitis, including A, C and W135 - but it is too expensive for countries in Africa, according to Ebrahim M Samba, Director of the Africa WHO Regional Office. Talks with key manufacturers of the vaccine on increasing production and bringing down the price for African countries were progressing well, WHO stated. Meanwhile, it is estimated that between two million and five million doses of tetravalent vaccine will be needed by WHO and its partners in the international coordinating group on vaccine provision for epidemic meningitis control for likely outbreaks in a few months' time. This group, which includes the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF, or Doctors Without Borders) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, will also meet in Burkina Faso on 25-26 September. For details of WHO's work in meningitis control.