New, low-cost meningitis vaccine approved by WHO
Launch in Africa will help save lives
A new meningitis vaccine, MenAfriVac, will soon be distributed for the first time in a mass campaign in Burkina Faso. Developed through the Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP)—a partnership between the World Health Organization (WHO) and the non-profit group PATH—the vaccine has the potential to save thousands of lives each year and represents one of the most cost-effective health tools available to fight meningitis. Development of this vaccine both highlights a highly successful partnership model and further emphasizes WHO's role in improving access to much-needed health products in the developing world.
Meningococcal meningitis is highly contagious and kills about one in ten people who become infected. Even with the proper medical treatment, up to one-quarter of survivors suffer permanent side effects. The largest burden of meningococcal meningitis occurs in a region of sub-Saharan Africa known as the meningitis belt, which reported 78,416 suspected cases of the disease last year. MenAfriVac represents a key step in halting and preventing these outbreaks in this region.
Key partnership
WHO and PATH carried the vaccine from concept to reality through nine years of collaboration with a range of partners. Earlier this year, WHO also prequalified MenAfriVa—a major milestone that allows for procurement of the vaccine by United Nations agencies, governments, and other organizations for use in national immunization programs. WHO prequalification has become a key step in enhancing access to vaccines and medicines in low-income countries; with the achievement of this milestone, MenAfriVac is now poised to help thousands in Africa at risk of meningitis each year.
Low-cost tool
This new vaccine will also serve as one of the lowest-cost tools to fight meningitis outbreaks in Africa. MenAfriVac will cost only 40 cents per dose, making it affordable to donors, health agencies, and some African governments.
"At 40 cents a dose, it is a moral imperative to introduce the vaccine in meningitis belt countries─most of which are among the poorest countries in the world," noted Dr. F. Marc LaForce, MVP director. He added, "It is everybody's wish that the global health community and funding agencies will come forward to help introduce the first affordable conjugate vaccine that offers the hope to end 100 years of group A meningitis epidemics in Africa."
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