In 2004, MVP partnered with SIIL to develop an affordable, tailor-made vaccine for use against meningitis A in sub-Saharan Africa. MenAfriVac® was developed in record time at less than one-tenth the cost of a typical new vaccine. Since campaigns started in 2010, MenAfriVac® has been administered to over 215 million people in 15 countries of the African meningitis belt: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Togo, and The Gambia.
Support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; UNICEF; PATH; WHO; and national governments has been crucial for mass vaccination campaigns that are due to continue until 2016 to cover at-risk populations in all 26 countries where disease burden from meningitis A is greatest.
Results from two infant clinical studies in Ghana and Mali and vaccine introduction impact data were presented to the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization in October 2014, and these SAGE experts concluded that a one-dose schedule at 9 months of age or older was recommended to achieve sustainable disease control following the initial mass campaigns in 1-29 year olds.
Established in 2001, the Meningitis Vaccine Project is a partnership between PATH and the World Health Organization. Its mission is to eliminate epidemic meningitis as a public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa through the development, testing, introduction, and widespread use of conjugate meningococcal vaccines.