NEW VACCINE AGAINST MENINGITIS

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The Ghana Health Service is from the first of this month introducing a new vaccine into its routine national immunization exercise. 

The vaccine, known as MenAfriVac, will be available at every health facility and administered to children who have reached 18 months old for protection against Meningitis.  

 At that age, MenAfriVac will be administered as vaccination on the right upper arm of the child by a trained health worker. 

This will be in addition to the administering of the Measles-2 vaccination.  All these vaccines will be administered free of charge. 

The At a media briefing in Kumasi by the Ashanti Regional Health Directorate to announce the introduction of the new Meningitis vaccine, the Deputy Regional Director of Health Services in charge of Public Health, Dr. Kwesi Yeboah-Awudzi indicated that though there are several different bacteria that can cause Meningitis, it is the Neissera Meningitis that has the potential to cause epidemics.  

 He said the Neissera Meningitis bacteria group was responsible for the Meningitis epidemic in Ghana in the 1996/1997 season, registering about 18 thousand 703 cases, with more than one thousand deaths recorded, mostly in the three regions of the north. 

Explaining the rationale for the nationwide introduction of MenAfriVac, Dr. Yeboah-Awudzi said it has been though necessary to get one vaccine programme for the country.

 Also, nationwide introduction might benefit neighbouring countries. 

The Ashanti Regional Director of Health Services, Dr. Alexis Nang-Beifubah explained that Meningitis refers to the inflammation of the covering of the brain and the spinal cord. 

He said Meningitis spreads in areas where the humidity is low, that is why it is classified as a seasonal disease. 

Dr. Nang-Beifubah however noted that Meningitis is a major epidemic concern in the Sahelian region of Africa spreading across Senegal to Ethiopia, making the area the Meningitis belt.
    

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