Vaccination campaign in Africa aims to protect 50M people against meningitis

Oct 6 2012

"A huge vaccination campaign to protect 50 million people against meningitis has been launched in seven African countries aiming to stamp out the deadly virus, health officials said on Thursday," Sapa/AFP/IOL News reports. "The so-called 'Meningitis Belt' countries -- Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sudan -- are to get the jabs to ensure 'a dramatic impact across the continent,' said Seth Berkley, managing director of the GAVI Alliance," according to the news service (10/4). "The seven countries targeted are vulnerable to seasonal severe outbreaks of meningitis with up to 430 million people at risk from the illness, according to a news release issued by the GAVI Alliance," the U.N. News Centre writes, noting, "The vaccination drive will ensure those at high risk, particularly children and young adults, are vaccinated by the end of December" (10/4).