10 million euros needed to contain meningitis

Several international health organizations appealed on Tuesday for 10 million euros (US $11 m) to urgently prepare for a meningitis outbreak in Africa that could be less than two months away. They said unless the funds are urgently provided, vaccines and drugs which are needed to prevent deaths and control the epidemic will not be available.

The International Federation of the Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières, UNICEF and the World Health Organization said without rebuilding the current stocks of vaccines and drugs, countries hit by the outbreak will be left to deal with it alone, leading to deaths of thousands of people.

"Meningitis is a killer disease which has its greatest impact on children. Fever, nausea and headache can progress rapidly to cause serious neurological damage, coma and death. Unless they are treated, half of those infected will die. Even with treatment, as many as 10% of patients do not survive. And those who survive can be left with serious mental damage or deafness as a result of their illness," WHO added.

Countries that lie on the "African meningitis belt" experience outbreaks almost every year. The "belt" stretches from Ethiopia to Senegal.

"In 2002 alone, there were at least 33,000 cases and 2,500 deaths. This year, a new strain, W135, which had previously only been responsible for sporadic cases in Africa, was identified as the main cause of an outbreak in Burkina Faso. Between February and June 2002, 12,000 people in Burkina Faso were infected and 1,500 died, most of them as a result of the W135 strain," WHO said.

Combating meningitis outbreaks in Africa, WHO said, relies primarily on vaccination. However, the current vaccine protects only against the two most commonly occurring strains while the only vaccine that currently protects against W135 is a tetravalent vaccine costing $4 to $50, depending on where it is sold. This is far beyond the reach of the affected countries in Africa.

"Talks with manufacturers aimed at providing affordable vaccines against W135 are making good progress and a solution is within reach. The goal is to have a trivalent vaccine at a price of US $1 per dose or below. That is why we are appealing for urgent action by donors to fund a stock of vaccine, drugs and supplies to prevent thousands of unnecessary deaths in the African meningitis belt," WHO said.

An emergency meeting between representatives of potential donor countries and countries in Africa’s "meningitis belt" has been convened on Thursday in Geneva.