Breakthrough meningitis vaccine developed for Africa at affordable price
Jan 04, 2011
A new, highly-effective vaccine launched in 2010 now offers the hope of an escape from one of the most fatal forms of meningitis in Africa – and it was developed not by one of the big pharmaceutical companies, but thanks to a partnership between the non-profit organisation PATH and the Serum Institute of India which ensured it would both meet the needs of people in Africa and be affordable.
The new meningitis A vaccine will effectively prevent epidemics to begin with, by providing long-term protection against the disease being passed from person to person. This will transform the work of MSF and of ministries of health, allowing us to move away from scrambling to stop the spread of an existing outbreak with treatment and vaccines that provide only short-term protection, towards a new strategy of launching preventive campaigns before outbreaks even emerge.
Vaccines are usually developed with the medical needs of wealthy countries in mind, and only brought to developing countries much later, where they are often sold at high prices. But this vaccine was designed specifically to meet the medical needs in the 25 countries of Africa’s ‘Meningitis Belt’ that stretch from Senegal to Ethiopia. And the different groups that worked together on the vaccine’s development ensured from the outset it would be sold at an affordable price: less than half a dollar per dose.
In December 2010, MSF began supporting initial vaccination campaigns in Mali and Niger. But the international community has yet to develop plans and ensure funding to extend vaccination across all affected countries in Africa.
Dr. Cathy HEWISON, MSF Medical Advisor “For me it's a revolution. The fact that the project to develop this vaccine was tailored to the medical needs of the Meningitis Belt in Africa, and at a price that affected governments could afford, is a real breakthrough and should be used for other problems of this sort.”
The new meningitis A vaccine will effectively prevent epidemics to begin with, by providing long-term protection against the disease being passed from person to person. This will transform the work of MSF and of ministries of health, allowing us to move away from scrambling to stop the spread of an existing outbreak with treatment and vaccines that provide only short-term protection, towards a new strategy of launching preventive campaigns before outbreaks even emerge.
Vaccines are usually developed with the medical needs of wealthy countries in mind, and only brought to developing countries much later, where they are often sold at high prices. But this vaccine was designed specifically to meet the medical needs in the 25 countries of Africa’s ‘Meningitis Belt’ that stretch from Senegal to Ethiopia. And the different groups that worked together on the vaccine’s development ensured from the outset it would be sold at an affordable price: less than half a dollar per dose.
In December 2010, MSF began supporting initial vaccination campaigns in Mali and Niger. But the international community has yet to develop plans and ensure funding to extend vaccination across all affected countries in Africa.
Dr. Cathy HEWISON, MSF Medical Advisor “For me it's a revolution. The fact that the project to develop this vaccine was tailored to the medical needs of the Meningitis Belt in Africa, and at a price that affected governments could afford, is a real breakthrough and should be used for other problems of this sort.”
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