Advocacy visit

The Gambia, a country in West Africa is preparing to introduce the New meningococcal Vaccine « MenAfriVac », by mid-november 2013. In preparation to this public health event, an advocacy mission was conducted in Banjul to meet with the national authorities and the stakeholders.

Many important topics have been discussed during the mission : Goals of eliminating MenA epidemics in the African meningitis belt, Preparation before the mass campaign, Need for high level commitment of the government, Vaccine licensure by the Gambian National Regulatory Authority, Coordination for a good quality campaign, Cold chain and waste management (logistics), Case based surveillance

Monitoring of AEFI, Communication/social mobilization (communication plan and tools, crisis communication workshop), Resource mobilization, international and national technical support, Evaluation. The mission conducted by Dr. Mamoudou H. Djingarey, the Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP) Focal Point at the IST/WA took place in the Gambia from 29 April to 03 May 2013. Since the introduction of MenAfriVac in 10 countries, no case of serogroup « A » meningitis has been recorded among the vaccinated people.
Between 2010-2012 more than 100.000.000 people have been vaccinated with the new vaccine in Africa.

Some data

Area: 11,295 Km
Total Population: 1.7 million
Target Population: 1.253.546
The Gambia is located on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean on the coast of West Africa. Total amount required for the campaign : US$674,416.23

In 1996/97 epidemic seasons, The Gambia experienced the worst meningitis epidemics causing 1685 cases and 222 deaths with a Case Fatality Rate (CFR) of 13.1%. During this season, the Upper River Region (URR), one of the high risk regions recorded 1390 cases and 168 deaths with a CFR of 12%. Furthermore, from November 2000 to March 2001, 137 cases of Men A including 21 deaths were recorded.

Next steps

Licensure of the vaccine in the Gambia by the NRA; Training on case based surveillance; Drafting the communication plan and tools, crisis communication workshop and at the end, the elaboration of the mass campaign plan that include all the topics. The country is also invited to attend the MenAfriVac weekly teleconferences organized by IST/WA with all vaccinating countries and partners.

Pictures of the advocacy visit in the Gambia

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For more information :

gibbak [at] gm.afro.who.int;

Gassamam [at] gm.afro.who.int;

djingareym [at] bf.afro.who.int