Burkina Faso: $10 Million Appeal for Meningitis Control

30 September 2002
Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)

The United Nations' World Health Organization and its partners launched an urgent appeal for 11 million euros (US $10.8 million) on Friday [27 September] to contain potential meningitis outbreaks in Africa.

The appeal was made at the end of a four-day meeting in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, at which strategies to contain meningitis outbreaks and secure cheap vaccines were discussed.

WHO said the emergence of the new W-135 strain of meningitis in West Africa earlier this year had given renewed urgency to the search for a more effective and affordable vaccine.

...Participants at the meeting recommended that countries in "the African meningitis belt", which stretches from Ethiopia to Senegal, be vigilant and detect meningitis cases at an early stage so that treatment could be made available quickly.

Copyright UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

For the Full Article, go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=30158

World Health Organization
http://www.who.int/


 

category: News from Other Sources : General Health News
contributed by Andrea Welch on 1 October 2002
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