With the delay of meningitis vaccination campaigns that targeted more than 50 million children in Africa, due to Covid-19, African countries find themselves at increased risk of outbreaks of meningitis type A, while that it is a disease that has been virtually eliminated on the continent, said Thursday, September 8, 2022 to the press, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, regional director of the World Health Organization (WHO) for Africa.
The Regional Director of the World Health Organization for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the Director of Technical Services of the Serum Institute of India Pr François Marc Laforce and the Executive Director of the Care and Development Center (CADEC – Center de and Development), Nigeria Omorodion Rhoda, held an online press conference this Thursday, September 8, 2022, to draw the attention of African countries to the increased risk of epidemic outbreaks of type A meningitis.
With control efforts carried out through vaccination campaigns, progress has been made. “Over the past dozen years 350 million Africans in 24 African countries have received a single dose of MenAfriVac (meningitis) vaccine since 2010 and the disease has virtually disappeared in all countries where studies have been conducted. vaccination campaigns”, indicated Pr Laforce who informs that “to date, between 600,000 to 1 million cases of bacterial meningitis have been prevented”.
But with the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a delay with meningitis vaccination campaigns targeting more than 50 million children in Africa. According to the WHO, this situation exposes the African Region to an increased risk of epidemic outbreaks of type A meningitis, a disease that has been virtually eliminated on the continent.
The coronavirus disease pandemic has disrupted meningitis prevention and control services, with a sharp drop in disease surveillance, laboratory confirmation of cases and outbreak investigations, director hinted Regional Office for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti.
The fight once morest this disease before Covid-19 led to a decrease in deaths from type A meningitis and other types of microorganisms. “50% of people with meningitis died from this disease in 2004”, according to the WHO but which adds that it is “95% of cases (who) survived in 2021”. “In prioritizing the response to Covid-19, we must not lose sight of other health issues,” said Dr Moeti.
To successfully combat this epidemic, WHO and its partners have drawn up a roadmap aimed at stopping outbreaks of bacterial meningitis by 2030. Thus, the WHO Regional Director for Africa has urged countries to accelerate the implementation of the new WHO regional roadmap now, before the start of the meningitis season in January 2023.
Despite the fact that there have been no cases of type A meningitis, over the past five years, in Africa, epidemic outbreaks continue to occur and are caused by other types of meningococcal bacteria.
In 2021, an epidemic outbreak that lasted four months claimed 205 lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In addition, the African Region is home to the highest number of new cases of meningitis in the world and is the only region still affected by epidemics of this disease. The continent records 100 cases of meningitis per 100,000 inhabitants, the highest incidence in the world. “More than 400 million Africans remain at risk of seasonal meningitis outbreaks, but the disease has stayed out of the spotlight for far too long,” said Dr. A visitor.
The adoption of the roadmap to defeat bacterial meningitis in the African Region by 2030 aims to strengthen diagnosis, surveillance, treatment, advocacy and vaccination. Thus, with the aim of eliminating epidemic outbreaks and reducing deaths by 70% and infections by 50%.
By Daouda ZONGO
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