Our strategy and principles

We bring together people who share a common commitment to public health and the interest of the end user in Africa

MVP, a partnership between PATH and WHO, has successfully developed a group A meningococcal conjugate vaccine for people from ages 1 to 29 and is now leading efforts on obtaining a vaccine license variation for a pediatric indication. Our approach to vaccine development is based on a novel strategy consisting of facilitating and coordinating numerous partnerships across the world.

While this demands a high level of management responsibility and accountability from the project team, the low-cost vaccine resulting from this approach will help ensure accessibility to countries of the meningitis belt in Africa and widespread uptake of the vaccine. Broad and sustained uptake is critical for achieving public health impact and meeting the goal of the project. This approach has also the potential for providing a new model for vaccine development that could facilitate the introduction of other "orphan" vaccines whose primary markets are low-income countries in the developing world.

MVP's strategy has been based on a clear set of principles since the inception of the project in 2001:

• The project aims to achieve a sustainable public health impact and is not simply about making vaccines available.
• Decisions about vaccine development are linked to introduction strategies and likely financial constraints.
• African public health officials and other stakeholders in Africa are closely involved with MVP. In addition, MVP emphasizes the need for understanding country needs and perspectives.