Preparedness for infectious threats: public-private partnership to develop an affordable vaccine for an emergent threat: the trivalent Neisseria meningitidis ACW135 polysaccharide vaccine

Abstract

With the emergence of epidemic Neisseria meningitidis W135 meningitis in Burkina Faso during early 2002, the public health community was faced with the challenge of providing access to an appropriate and affordable vaccine in time for the upcoming 2003 epidemic season. Recognizing the implications of the emergent threat, the World Health Organization developed a strategy, established a public-private partnership to provide the needed vaccine, and then ensured that a stockpile was available for future use. The trivalent N meningitidis ACW135 polysaccharide vaccine that resulted is now one of the primary tools for epidemic response in African meningitis belt countries. It will remain so for the foreseeable future and until appropriate and affordable conjugate vaccines become part of national immunization programs in the region.

FIGURE 1—

Annual meningitis attack rates by country: 1995 to 2003. Source. World Health Organization.

FIGURE 2—

Meningitis surveillance data for weekly reported meningitis cases per 100 000 population from Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali for 2001–2003. Source. World Health Organization Multi-disease Surveillance Center, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, unpublished data, 2004.