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Vaccines for the poor: Meningococcal A conjugate vaccine in Africa

Every year, epidemics of meningococcal infection, because of serogroup A Neisseria meningitidis, sweep across 25 countries in the sub-Saharan meningitis belt of Africa, from Senegal to Somalia, affecting thousands of children and young adults. The worst recorded epidemic, in 1997, infected an estimated 250 000 persons and killed 25 000. Unfortunately, for Africans, there are five main serogroups of N. meningitidis, serogroups A, B, C, W-135 and Y, but serogroup A disease is rare outside Africa, and vaccine manufacturers have had no financial incentive to develop A conjugate vaccines. A serogroup A conjugate vaccine has now been developed without the involvement of the large pharmaceutical companies. The World Health Organization collaborated with the nonprofit health organisation Program for Appropriate Technology in Health to develop the vaccine, which is manufactured in the Serum Institute of India in Pune and will cost less than 50 cents a dose. Vaccine development costs of about $50 million were paid for by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The vaccine, called MenAfriVac, was launched in Burkina Faso in December 2010 and will be used in Mali, Niger and, hopefully, other countries. This is the first ever vaccine for the poor. One can only applaud such an intelligent application of Gates’ altruism. doi:10.1111/j.1440-1754.2011.02004.x