"Stunning Success," For Africa's Meningitis Vaccine

A mass vaccination programme against meningitis A in Africa has been successful, as confirmed by experts.

17:52 12 November 2015

A mass vaccination programme against meningitis A immunised more than 220 million people in 16 African countries. In 2013, only four cases across the region were recorded, down from thousands that were recorded each year before the programme was launched.

 

Despite the success of the programme, World Health Organization has issued fresh warnings that "huge epidemics" could return unless a new vaccination programme is started.

 

"The disease has virtually disappeared from this part of the world," said Dr Marie-Pierre Preziosi from the World Health Organization.

 

The mass immunisation programme was aimed at people under 30. This means that newborns are vulnerable to the disease.

 

"What could happen is a huge epidemic that could sweep the entire area, that could target hundreds of thousands of people with 5-10% deaths at least.

 

"There will be major epidemics in 10 to 15 years, so the call to countries now is, 'Do not stop your efforts - you need to introduce the vaccine into routine immunisation programmes.'"

 

A new vaccine has been approved for children between nine and 18 months old. Ghana will be the first to introduce the jab while eight more countries are set to follow suit next year.