Not long ago, medical professionals south of the Sahara fought an almost hopeless battle. The overpowering opponent: meningitis A. 20 years ago, the form of meningitis cost 25,000 lives. And in 2009 alone in Nigeria and Niger more than 1000 infected people died. But even survivors sometimes met a difficult fate: within a few hours, meningitis A can cause permanent brain damage and paralysis and turns young people into nursing care.
In 2010 came “MenAfriVac”. The vaccine has so far immunized more than 220 million people in 16 countries in the so-called meningitis belt against the disease. Ten more states need to continue moving towards full commercialization of the vaccine. Within a year, from 2009 to 2010, the number of laboratory-confirmed cases fell from almost 2000 to 430. In 2013, four cases occurred. Overall, meningitis in the 26 countries south of the Sahara is now considered almost eradicated. When tested five years later, 90 percent of people who received the MenAfriVac vaccine still had protective antibodies.
Establish vaccination as an integral part
The most important thing now is to create sustainability. “We have almost eliminated the meningitis A epidemic in Africa, but the job is not done yet,” said Jean-Marie Okwo-Bele, director of immunization, vaccines and biologicals at the World Health Organization (WHO). “Our spectacular success against meningitis A through mass immunization campaigns is jeopardized if countries do not ensure high levels of protection. They need to make the vaccine an integral part of their regular childhood immunization schedules.”
If this happens, then perhaps another disease could be pushed back further. According to a study in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, tetanus rates in newborns fell by 25 percent in countries that had completed the meningitis A vaccination campaign among 1- to 29-year-olds.
The original WHO article can be found here.