What does the meningitis problem in Africa look like today?
Meningococcal meningitis is one of the most feared epidemic diseases in Africa because of its rapid onset, high fatality rates and long-term disabilities, such as brain-damage and deafness, affecting many survivors. In 1996-1997 devastating epidemics affected 250,000 people with 25,000 fatalities. Current control strategies based on reactive vaccination have not been fully satisfactory in reducing the burden of the disease within the ‘Meningitis Belt’ – an area in Sub-Saharan Africa stretching from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east. New efforts are underway to provide long-term protection to at-risk populations of around 350 million, establishing the means to avoid devastating regional epidemics involving hundreds of thousands of cases and tens of thousands of deaths. This will be possible in large part due to the development of an effective long-lasting conjugate vaccine which targets the dominant strain (Group A) of the bacteria which causes meningococcal meningitis and is
