A public-private vaccine alliance with the vision to support children vaccination around the world, Gavi, has donated one million doses of meningococcal vaccines to the Nigerian health ministry to stem the outbreak in the northern part of the country.

The vaccines were received this week by the ministry according to a statement on Friday by Gavi.

The agency said, “This week, Nigeria’s Ministry of Health received over 1,000,000 pentavalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine (Men5CV) doses from the Gavi-funded global stockpile to combat the meningococcus C and W outbreak in northern Nigeria.’’

Gavi noted that the vaccines were aimed at combating meningococcus outbreak which already claimed over 70 lives, with more than 800 cases across 23 states.

“This first shipment will enable the launch of an outbreak response campaign targeting individuals aged 1–29 years, the most severely affected group. The campaign will initially launch in Kebbi and Sokoto states, with plans to expand to Yobe State as additional doses arrive in the country,” Gavi said.

Head of High-Impact Outbreaks, Francisco Luquero, said “With Gavi’s support, vaccines successfully eliminated meningitis A from Africa’s meningitis belt. Now, they are also combating other serogroups of this deadly and debilitating disease, bringing us closer to our goal of eliminating meningitis by 2030. Continued investment in this work is critical to protect the incredible progress made so far, control future outbreaks, and dramatically reduce the devastating impact that seasonal epidemics of meningitis have on families and communities.”

The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, was quoted by Gavi in the statement as saying “We are grateful for the support of Gavi, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF in enabling this swift deployment. Together, we are not only containing today’s outbreak but also laying the foundation to eliminate meningitis and strengthen routine immunisation for the future.”

Meningococcal meningitis – an infection of the meninges, the thin lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord – is most prevalent in Africa’s ‘meningitis belt’, which stretches across 26 countries in Africa – from Senegal in the West to Ethiopia in the East – with an at-risk population of about 500 million, according to Gavi.

It added, “Those at highest risk of infection are infants, children and young adults. One in four survivors suffers permanent disabilities such as hearing loss; seizures; limb weakness; difficulties with vision, speech, language, memory and communication; as well as scarring and limb amputations.”