A conjugate vaccine for Africa
MVP support has been critical to the development of a conjugate vaccine for meningitis A in Africa. |
Our client is the African child. He or she comes first. Always.
Because group A Neisseria meningitidis is the pathogen responsible for most epidemics in the meningitis belt, MVP has decided to develop a monovalent group A conjugate vaccine for Africa.
MenAfriVac®—the meningococcal A conjugate vaccine—has little commercial market outside of Africa. The development of this vaccine would not have been possible without the support of MVP.
The aim is to gradually integrate the new vaccine into the routine immunization programs run by the national ministries of health. It is hoped that all 26 countries in the African meningitis belt will have introduced MenAfriVac® by 2016. High coverage of the 315 million target population, aged 1-29 years, is expected to eliminate group A meningococcal epidemics from this region of Africa.
Photo: Yvan Hutin.