Ethiopia 
39 million Ethiopians face meningitis risk

- Although vaccination campaigns have begun in worst affected districts, concern is growing that the epidemic could spread to other areas unless at-risk populations are vaccinated rapidly, the Red Cross states.

The Red Cross and Crescent and the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, with the assistance of the Ethiopian Red Cross, will use in mass vaccination campaigns against the epidemic. The campaign is to target one of the worst affected areas, the North Omo zone of the Southern Nations and Nationalities Peoples Region (SNNPR), where up to 1.8 million people between 2-30 years of age might be vaccinated if necessary. This is to be done in close collaboration with partners such as the World Health Organisation (WHO).

To begin work immediately in North Omo zone, the Red Cross and Crescent said it had released US$ 117,000 from its emergency fund to procure drugs for emergency treatment of those who contract the disease as well as 200,000 vaccine doses.

- The latest figures that we have show that since the outbreak began last September, 85 people have died from the disease from a reported 1,332 cases in central and south-western Ethiopia, says Dr Bernard Moriniere, a public health expert at the Red Cross and Crescent. "We need to act quickly to make sure the epidemic doesn't continue to spread to other parts of the country."

Ethiopia, which lies in the African Meningitis Belt, suffers from major outbreaks of meningococcal meningitis every 10 years. The worst outbreaks were in 1981 when there were 50,000 cases and 990 deaths and 1989 when more than 1,680 people died. Last year, a Red Cross and Crescent appeal in support of the Ethiopian Red Cross to vaccinate 1.5 million people, helped contain another outbreak which killed 330 people.

The current outbreak started in September 2001 and has continued to spread despite early vaccination efforts in selected districts. As of 3 February, a total of 1,332 cases and 85 deaths had been reported in the SNNPR and Oromiya. Countrywide, the 2-30 years age group - which is the most at risk - totals 44.5 million. Only 5.8 million of this group have been vaccinated in the last two years. 

There is concern that the outbreak will reach the scale of the 1981 and 1989 outbreaks, unless transmission is curtailed through intensified surveillance and rapid mass vaccination, the Red Cross and Crescent states.

SNNPR is one of the biggest regions in Ethiopia, with an estimated population of over 12.5 million people. The high population density, current dry season and low immunization coverage exacerbate the potential for a major meningitis epidemic, according to the WHO.

Sources: Based on WHO, Red Cross and Red Crescent and afrol archives

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