Government seeks $12m to tackle meningitis

Burkina Faso has unveiled a rapid response plan to combat meningitis, which strikes thousands of people in this poor West African country every year, but the government still needs to find six billion CFA (US $12 million) to fund the programme. Health Minister Alain Yoda said the government expected the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Union (EU), to contribute. Meningitis is endemic in Burkina Faso. Last year, 8,674 became infected with the disease, which causes an inflamation of the brain, and 1,363 died. Disclosing details of the plan on Monday, Yoda said his ministry aimed to control the spread of meningitis through vaccination and reduce the death rate through rapid diagnosis and treatment. Since 2002, the government has treated all meningitis patients free of charge, but until now vaccines have often been in short supply and it has lacked qualified staff to maintain adequate surveillance of the disease. Last year, meningitis vaccinations were only available in 13 of the 35 health districts in the south and east of Burkina Faso where the disease is endemic. But Yoda said the campaign against meningitis had been partially successful. "We have been able to limit the death toll because of the preventative approach although there was a high death rate," he said. This was over 15% among patients who contracted two of the most common A and W135 strains of the disease, he said. Under the proposed programme, all those aged between two and 29 in endemic areas will be vaccinated. Elsewhere, people will only be vaccinated in reaction to local outbreaks of meningitis once cases start appearing in the area. "We will make the vaccine doses are available but we cannot get enough vaccine to inject every one," Dr Sylvestre Tiendrebeogo, a member of the surveillance team, told IRIN. However, regional hospitals throughout Burkina Faso will be equipped with antibiotics and other medicines for the treatment of meningitis patients. The government also hopes to train 110 laboratory technicians to improve the diagnosis of meningitis as well as health agents to monitor the disease at district level. Burkina Faso lies on the African meningitis belt that stretches across the dry savannah region from Senegal in the west to Sudan in the east. The country suffers outbreaks of the disease every year during the dry season that lasts from October to May. The most severe forms of meningitis are bacterial, of which there are 50 known types. Symptoms include fever, nausea and headache. It can progress rapidly to cause serious brain damage, deafness, coma and death.