Division of Bacterial Diseases (DBD) News Bulletin
This website is archived for historical purposes and is no longer being maintained or updated.
June 13, 2013: Content on this page kept for historical reasons.
In This Issue
- Meningitis Efforts in Ethiopia
- GBS, Pertussis in Latin America
- Global Activities Update
- Awards, Vaccine News, and Epi-aids
- Communications
- Publications and New EISOs
Spring 2013
DBD’s Work Eliminating Epidemic Meningitis Continues: Staff Activities in Ethiopia
By December 2012, over 100 million people living in 9 countries had been vaccinated against meningitis with MenAfriVac®, the novel serogroup A meningococcal conjugate vaccine. This affordable, 40 cents a dose vaccine, holds great promise to end epidemic meningitis as a public health concern in sub-Saharan Africa. MenAfriVac® is being introduced in a two-pronged strategy across the meningitis belt of sub-Saharan Africa, which stretches from Senegal to Ethiopia: first, preventive mass-vaccination campaigns in the age groups at highest risk (ages 1–29 years) to induce herd immunity in the population and reduce transmission, and then integration of the vaccine into routine childhood vaccination programs. It is planned that all 26 countries in the meningitis belt will have introduced MenAfriVac® by 2016.
- Page last reviewed: June 7, 2013 (archived document)
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