Nigeria has acquired over a million doses of the pentavalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine (Men5CV) to fight the meningococcus C and W outbreak in northern Nigeria.
The vaccine doses, funded by Gavi, have been acquired by the Federal Ministry of Well being and Social Welfare, in accordance with a joint press assertion on Friday by the Vaccine Alliance, Gavi, the World Well being Organisation (WHO), and the United Nations Youngsters’s Fund (UNICEF).
In accordance with the Nigeria Centre for Illness Management and Prevention (NCDC), the nation has recorded 807 suspected circumstances of cerebrospinal meningitis. PREMIUM TIMES studies that the suspected circumstances have resulted in 74 deaths from 22 states, with a case fatality fee of 9.2 per cent.
The Friday assertion famous that the vaccine doses are a part of an emergency response marketing campaign focusing on people aged one to 29 years, probably the most affected group.
The marketing campaign will initially roll out in Kebbi and Sokoto states, with plans to increase to Yobe as extra doses arrive.
Nigeria’s response
Talking on the importance of the vaccine arrival, the Coordinating Minister of Well being and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, mentioned it’s a essential milestone in Nigeria’s response to the present meningitis outbreak.
Mr Pate famous that it displays commitments to President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda to guard the well being and well-being of all Nigerians, particularly kids and younger folks.
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“By the Nigeria Well being Sector Renewal Funding Initiative and the Sector-Broad Method, now we have prioritised epidemic preparedness and fast response as a part of our broader well being safety agenda,” he mentioned.
“We’re grateful for the help of Gavi, WHO, and UNICEF in enabling this swift deployment. Collectively, we aren’t solely containing at the moment’s outbreak but in addition laying the muse to eradicate meningitis and strengthen routine immunisation for the long run,” he mentioned.
Gavi funding
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, funds the worldwide stockpiles of vaccines towards ailments like cholera, ebola, meningitis, and yellow fever. The vaccines are accessible to all international locations.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how the US authorities’s actions to defund Gavi could have an effect on international locations like Nigeria in areas like the supply of vaccines.
Gavi additionally helps international locations in the price of procurement, supply, and outbreak response campaigns in lower-income international locations, in addition to preventive and routine immunisation actions.
Using the stockpiles for outbreak response is managed by the Worldwide Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision, and doses are delivered to international locations by UNICEF.
The ICG has accepted the deployment of over 1.5 million doses of Men5CV in response to Nigeria’s request in March.
In his feedback, Gavi’s Head of Excessive-Impression Outbreaks, Francisco Luquero, famous that with Gavi’s help, vaccines efficiently eradicated meningitis A from Africa’s meningitis belt.
Mr Luquero added that the vaccines are additionally combating different serogroups of this lethal and debilitating illness, “bringing us nearer to our aim of eliminating meningitis by 2030.”
“Continued funding on this work is crucial to guard the unimaginable progress made up to now, management future outbreaks, and dramatically scale back the devastating influence that seasonal epidemics of meningitis have on households and communities.”
“As of the tip of 2024, the worldwide meningococcal vaccine stockpile had been accessed 68 occasions by 16 international locations since 2009, with over 34 million doses deployed in help of nations,” the assertion concluded.
About Meningitis
Meningitis, a critical an infection of the meninges (the membranes overlaying the mind and spinal twine), stays a big public well being problem. Whereas it may be attributable to micro organism, fungi, or viruses, bacterial meningitis has the very best international burden.
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The illness, notably meningococcal meningitis, is vulnerable to outbreaks and large-scale epidemics, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa’s “meningitis belt,” stretching from Senegal within the west to Ethiopia within the east.
The WHO acknowledged that one in 4 meningitis survivors undergo everlasting disabilities resembling listening to loss, seizures, limb weak point, and imaginative and prescient or speech impairments.
Seasonal outbreaks usually happen throughout the dry season, from December to June, peaking between March and April when low humidity and excessive mud ranges prevail.
Over time, Gavi has labored with international locations to help vaccination towards meningitis A, reaching over 400 million kids and younger adults aged as much as 29 years via campaigns and routine immunisation. These efforts have helped Africa eradicate meningitis A, with no new case detected since 2017.
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