Meningitis Vaccine Project

The Meningitis Vaccine Project is an effort to eliminate meningitis epidemics in Sub-Saharan Africa by developing a new meningococcal vaccine. Most outbreaks of meningococcal disease in the region, also known as the meningitis belt, are caused by serotype A of Neisseria meningitidis ("meningitis A"). In June 2010, various sources announced that they had developed MenAfriVac, which is an inexpensive, safe, and highly effective vaccine that reduces rates of meningitis A infection.

The project marked the first time that medical research had developed a vaccine to combat a disease that is endemic to and only a problem for Africa.

The project began in 2001 when the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded the World Health Organization and the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) a US $70 million seed grant to begin research.

Background

The so-called meningitis belt, showing the distribution of meningococcal meningitis in Africa

In 2001, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded the World Health Organization and the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) a US$70 million seed grant to launch the Meningitis Vaccine Project.[1]

Implementation

The mission of the project is to eliminate meningococcal disease (colloquially referred to simply as meningitis) as a public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa through the development, testing, introduction, and widespread use of conjugate meningococcal vaccines.[2] The project recently developed MenAfriVac, a low-cost conjugate A vaccine that is ready for widespread distribution to people between the ages of 1 and 29 in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger,[3] three countries in the African meningitis belt with the highest rates of meningitis.[4]

Manufacture

By working with the Serum Institute of India Ltd. to manufacture the vaccine, the project was able to develop a vaccine that would be affordable to developing African countries, priced at less than $US.50 per dose.[5] Unlike existing vaccines, MenAfriVac also provides immunity for a long period—10 to 15 years—and is safe for use in infants one year of age and older.[3] Following successful trials, the vaccine was introduced in three African countries in 2010.[6]

See also

Sources

  1. ↑ press release (30 May 2011). "The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Announces Grant for the Elimination of Epidemic Meningitis in Sub-Saharan Africa". gatesfoundation.org. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  2. ↑ Meningitis Vaccine Project, Mission Statement [www.meningvax.org/mission.php], accessed November 15, 2010
  3. 1 2 Butler, Declan (9 November 2010). "Vaccine offers meningitis hope". Nature. 468 (7321). Nature Publishing Group: 143. Bibcode:2010Natur.468..143B. doi:10.1038/468143a. PMID 21068797.
  4. ↑ World Health Organization, Geneva (16 September 2005). "Enhanced surveillance of epidemic meningococcal meningitis in Africa: a three-year experience" (PDF). Weekly Epidemiological Record. 80 (37). World Health Organization: 313–320. PMID 16193931. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
  5. ↑ Anderson, Tatum (14 October 2010). "Africa hails new meningitis vaccine". bbc.co.uk. BBC News. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
  6. ↑ "Africa hails new meningitis vaccine". BBC News. 2010-10-14. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
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