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The Meningitis Vaccine Project - where we are today

At the end of 2011, Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria are vaccinating more than 22 million individuals aged 1-29 years with the new meningococcal A conjugate vaccine, MenAfriVac, which has the potential to eliminate the leading cause of meningitis epidemics in Africa.

In these audio files (in French), four individuals closely involved either in the clinical trials for the vaccine, the organization of mass campaigns, or the health of those living in a rural community participating in the trials, talk about their work and the impact that the vaccine is expected to have on the health of people living in the meningitis belt.

Doctor Marie-Pierre Preziosi

Responsible for research and development of meningitis vaccines
WHO, Geneva

• Dr Preziosi: part 1 - duration 00:02:42 [mp3 2.5Mb] - in French
  Dr Preziosi describes the various stages of clinical trials for the new meningococcal A conjugate vaccine, MenAfriVac
• Dr Preziosi: part 2 - duration 00:03:16 [mp3 3Mb] - in French
  Dr Preziosi describes the collaboration between the vaccine manufacturer in India, research centres in Africa and international organizations, which enabled the development and introduction of the vaccine MenAfriVac in record time. She talks about the safety of the vaccine and the hopes for elimination of meningitis A in sub-Saharan Africa in the coming years.

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Doctor Carol Tevi-Benissan

Responsible for logistics planning of meningitis vaccine campaigns
WHO, Geneva

• Dr Tevi-Benissan: part 1 - duration 00:02:17 [mp3 2.1Mb] - in French
  Dr Tevi-Benissan details the steps involved in planning a mass campaign against meningitis. She stresses the importance of mobilizing adequate financial, human and material resources for an effective campaign and explains the different ways in which organizing countries address these issues.
• Dr Tevi-Benissan: part 2 - duration 00:00:42 [mp3 0.66Mb] - in French
  Dr Tevi-Benissan describes the role of WHO in planning the campaigns.

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Doctor Aldiouma Diallo

Principal Investigator, MenAfriVac clinical trials
Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), Niakhar, Senegal

• Dr Diallo: part 1 - duration 00:01:18 [mp3 1.2Mb] - in French
  Dr Diallo describes the various research areas in which IRD is involved. He highlights the central role of IRD in clinical trials for MenAfriVac and the factors that have enabled all stages to be undertaken effectively.
• Dr Diallo: part 2 - duration 00:01:49 [mp3 1.7Mb] - in French
  Dr Diallo describes the different elements of the clinical trials — carriage studies of and studies on the persistence of antibodies. He stresses the importance of this project for sub-Saharan Africa.

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Doctor Seynabou Gaye

District Medical Officer of Niakhar, Sénégal

• Dr Gaye: duration 00:01:24 [mp3 1.3Mb] - in French
  During a meeting at the Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) in Niakhar in October 2011, Dr Gaye explains how the people living in Niakhar are affected by meningitis. She also talks about the commitment of the local community to participation in the clinical trials of MenAfriVac.

In December 2010, the new vaccine was introduced in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Developed through collaboration between the Meningitis Vaccine Project (WHO and the international non-profit organization PATH), an Indian vaccine manufacturer and public health officials in India and several African countries, the vaccine is superior to existing meningococcal vaccines in several ways: the duration of protection is longer, it protects young children, it has the potential to generate herd immunity, and is sold at a price affordable for Africa.

It is expected that, by 2016, the 25 African countries in the region known as the "meningitis belt", will have introduced the vaccine in mass campaigns, with a total of 300 million people vaccinated.

The introduction of the vaccine was only possible following years of clinical trials. The human trials began six years ago, in India. Since then, nearly 10 000 people have participated in trials in the Gambia, Ghana, India, Mali and Senegal. Clinical trials are continuing — to determine the duration of protection conferred by the vaccine, and the optimum schedule for its future introduction into routine immunization programmes.