Warnings from the ICG about a potentially high risk of a large meningitis epidemic in Africa

On the 28th of July, the International Coordinating group for Vaccine Provision for Epidemic Meningitis Control - ICG which is made up of :
- UNICEF
- MSF
- WHO
- IFRC
issued out a warning of a possible large meningitis outbreak in Africa by January 2016 if vaccine manufacturers do not step up the production of the stockpile for meningitis c containing vaccine to about 5 million before the next meningitis epidemic season.

Alejandro Costa, of the ICG Secretariat in a release spoke of ongoing work to reinforce detection and response systems, and also to secure other sources of meningitis C vaccine in Cuba and Brazil. However, they are still waiting on the vaccine manufacturers to submit applications for WHO pre qualification.
Until that is done, only already pre qualified manufacturers who have produced vaccines in the past can go ahead. This is because vaccines have to be produced in the right quantity and at an affordable price.

Dr. Myriam Henkens, the international medical coordinator for MSF was also quoted to have stated that: “In just the first six months of 2015, there have been 12,000 cases of meningitis C in Niger and Nigeria, and 800 deaths. At the same time, there has been a critical shortage of vaccine, the campaigns consequently were limited to the critically affected age groups and areas, and even so, had to be delayed until vaccine supply became available and we believe that next year will be worse. We need vaccine manufacturers to plan production of multivalent vaccine now to allow sufficient lead time and capacity to meet this demand.”

The ICG has emphasized that vaccination is key in preventing meningitis.
The introduction of the meningitis A conjugate vaccine (MenAfriVac) in 2010 in 15 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, has led to a drastic reduction in the meningitis disease burden in the subcontinent. No epidemics of meningitis A have been reported in areas where the population has been vaccinated.
We need now to do the same for meningitis C,” says Amanda McClelland, senior officer of emergency health for IFRC.