Winifred Bosa.

An additional 820 000 doses of a meningitis C conjugate vaccine – a donation from the UK government to the World Health Organization (WHO) is being sent to Nigeria.

So also an additional team of WHO of meningitis experts has arrived in Nigeria to provide additional epidemic response.

This is a vaccination effort campaign  aimed to contain an outbreak of meningitis C, a strain of meningitis which first emerged in the country in 2013 said WHO in a press statement.

Since the beginning of this year, the country has reported 4637 suspected cases and 489 deaths across five states.

As was contained in the statement ,  in addition to the use of vaccinations to prevent the transmission of meningitis, according to the statement , 20 000 vials of antibiotics have been sent by  The International Coordinating Group (ICG) to treat people who have the disease in Nigeria.

The International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision, coordinates the provision of emergency vaccine supplies during outbreak emergencies, the group sent 500 000 doses of meningitis C-containing vaccine  to combat the epidemic.

“Vaccination can drastically reduce the magnitude of the epidemic,” says Dr Sylvie Briand, Director of Infectious Hazard Management for WHO. “But in addition, it is essential to strengthen the care of all those affected by the infection and to ensure those people living in hard-to-reach areas can get treatment.”

And , “In addition to improving the care of the sick, we are focusing on ensuring accurate information about the spread of the outbreak is available as quickly as possible to help us make the most effective use of vaccines,” said Dr Wondimagegnehu Alemu, WHO Representative to Nigeria.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, with support from WHO, US CDC, UNICEF and other partners, is leading and coordinating the response to the ongoing outbreak, including intensified surveillance, capacity building for case management and risk communication. WHO’s Country Office in Nigeria, including a number of field offices, have been supporting the government since the outbreak began.

But on concerns about the limited vaccine supply , Dr Olivier Ronveaux, WHO meningitis expert said , “The very limited supply of vaccines to control outbreaks of meningitis C can affect our ability to control these epidemics, In the long term, the accelerated development of affordable and effective conjugate vaccines to cover all epidemic types of meningitis is a high priority for WHO and partners.”

The vaccines, funded by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, have been administered in Zamfara and Katsina states, which are the worst affected by the outbreak .

In the last week, the report disclosed that the ICG, which is managed by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and WHO, has also sent 341 000 doses of the Gavi-supported meningitis C-containing vaccine to Niger, where there are over 1300 suspected cases of the disease in districts that border with Nigeria and in the Niamey region of the country.

Meningococcal meningitis is a bacterial form of meningitis, a serious infection of the thin lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord and can cause severe brain damage. Meningococcal meningitis is fatal in 50% of cases if untreated. Though cases of meningitis occur throughout the world, large, recurring epidemics affect an extensive region of sub-Saharan Africa known as the “meningitis belt” which includes 26 countries from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east.

There are several different types of meningococcal meningitis (A, C, W, etc.) that can cause epidemics. Substantial progress has been made in recent years in protecting Africa from disease due to one of the main epidemic types, through the successful introduction of the Men A conjugate vaccine (MACV) against meningitis A. Since MACV was introduced in 2010, more than 260 million people have been vaccinated across 19 countries. This has resulted in a reduction of the number of meningitis cases by more than 57%. Much work, however, remains to be done to protect the region from meningitis C outbreaks and other types of the disease.