Millions at risk from meningitis

Millions of people in Ethiopia are still at risk from a meningitis epidemic which broke out last September, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned this week.

It said nearly 39 million people were at risk, particularly in the North Omo zone in the south of the country. The meningococcal meningitis disease has hit densely populated areas of the country, and although vaccination campaigns have begun in the worst-affected districts, concern is growing that the epidemic could spread to other areas.

The International Federation has appealed for US $857,000 to procure vaccines which the Ethiopian ministry of health, with the assistance of the Ethiopian Red Cross, will use in mass vaccination campaigns. In the North Omo Zone, up to 1.8 million people between the ages of two and 30 could be vaccinated if necessary.

"The latest figures we have show that since the outbreak began last September, 85 people have died of the disease from a reported 1,332 cases in central and southwestern Ethiopia," said Dr Bernard Moriniere, a public health expert at the International Federation. "We need to act quickly to make sure the epidemic doesn't continue to spread to other parts of the country."

Ethiopia, which lies in the African meningitis belt, suffers from major outbreaks of meningococcal meningitis every 10 years. The worst outbreaks were in 1981 when there were 50,000 cases and 990 deaths, and in 1989 when more than 1,680 people died.

[See also IRIN report of 29 January 2002 "Warning of meningitis epidemic" at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=20193]