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Nigeria Becomes First Country To Introduce New 5-in-1 Vaccine Against Meningitis – WHO

Published

2 years ago

April 13, 2024

Nigeria has become the first country in the world to roll out a new vaccine – Men5CV – recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), to protect people against meningitis.

The World Health body, in a statement on Friday, said that the vaccine would protect people against five strains of Meningococcus bacteria and described Nigeria’s feat as historic.

It said that health workers would begin an immunisation campaign aimed at reaching one million people.

The statement said that the vaccine and emergency vaccination activities are funded by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which funds the global meningitis vaccine stockpile and supports lower-income countries with routine vaccination against meningitis.

According to the WHO, Nigeria is one of the 26 meningitis hyper-endemic countries in Africa, situated in the area known as the African Meningitis Belt.

It noted that in 2023, there was a 50 per cent jump in annual meningitis cases reported across Africa.

“In Nigeria, an outbreak of Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcus) serogroup C outbreak, led to 1,742 suspected meningitis cases, including 101 confirmed cases and 153 deaths in seven of the 36 Nigerian states between October 2023 and March 2024.

“The states are Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina, Yobe, and Zamfara.

“To quell the deadly outbreak, a vaccination campaign was undertaken on March 25–28, 2024, to initially reach more than one million people aged 1-29 years,” it said.

The statement noted that meningitis is a serious infection that leads to the inflammation of the membranes (meninges) that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord.

“There are multiple causes of meningitis, including viral, bacterial, fungal, and parasitic pathogens.

“Symptoms often include headache, fever, and stiff neck. Bacterial meningitis is the most serious and can also result in septicaemia (blood poisoning). It can seriously disable or kill within 24 hours,” the statement added.

It quoted Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, as saying that meningitis was an old and deadly foe, adding that the new vaccine holds the potential to change the trajectory of the disease, preventing future outbreaks and saving many lives.

“Nigeria’s rollout brings us one step closer to our goal of eliminating meningitis by 2030,” Ghebreyesus said.

He said that the revolutionary new vaccine offers a powerful shield against the five major strains of the meningococcal bacteria – A, C, W, Y, and X – in a single shot.

All five strains cause meningitis and blood poisoning.

According to him, this provides broader protection than the current vaccine used in much of Africa, which is only effective against the A strain.

He said that the new vaccine has the potential to significantly reduce meningitis cases and advance progress in defeating meningitis.

“This is especially important for countries like Nigeria, where multiple serogroups are prevalent.

“The new vaccine uses the same technology as the meningitis A conjugate vaccine (MenAfriVac®), which wiped out meningococcal A epidemics in Nigeria,” the WHO boss said.

The statement quoted Prof. Muhammad Pate, Nigeria’s Minister of Health and Social Welfare, as saying that Northern Nigeria, particularly the states of Jigawa, Bauchi, and Yobe, were badly hit by the deadly outbreak of meningitis.

“This vaccine provides health workers with a new tool to both stop this outbreak and also put the country on a path to elimination,” Pate said.

According to him, Nigeria has done a lot of work preparing health workers and the health system for the rollout of the new vaccine.

“We got invaluable support from our populations in spite of the fasting period, and from our community leaders, especially the Emir of Gumel in Jigawa, who personally launched the vaccination campaign in the state.

“We’ll be monitoring progress closely and hopefully expand the immunisation in the coming months and years to accelerate progress,” he said.

The minister said that the new multivalent conjugate vaccine took 13 years of effort and was based on a partnership between PATH and the Serum Institute of India.

“Financing from the UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office was critical to its development,” he said.

Pate said that in July 2023, WHO prequalified the new Men5CV vaccine (which has brand name MenFive®), and in October 2023, it issued an official recommendation to countries to introduce the new vaccine.

According to him, Gavi allocated resources for the Men5CV rollout in December 2023, which are currently available for outbreak response through the emergency stockpile managed by the International Coordinating Group (ICG) on vaccine provision.

He added that the rollout, through mass preventive campaigns, was expected to start in 2025 across countries of the Meningitis Belt.

Mr Andrew Mitchell, UK Minister for Development and Africa, was also quoted as saying that the rollout of one million vaccines in northern Nigeria would help save lives, prevent long-term illness, and boost the goal of defeating meningitis globally by 2030.

“This is exactly the kind of scientific innovation supported by the UK, which I hope is replicated in years to come, to help us drive further breakthroughs, including wiping out other diseases,” Mitchell said.

He said that WHO has been supporting the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) in responding to the meningitis outbreak in the country.

According to him, the areas of support include disease surveillance, active case finding, sample testing, and case management.

“WHO and partners have also played a vital role in supporting Nigeria to prepare for the rollout of the new vaccine and training health workers,” he said.

Dr Nanthalile Mugala, PATH’s Chief of Africa Region, was also quoted as saying that meningococcal meningitis had tormented countries across Africa year after year.

“The introduction of MenFive® in Nigeria heralds a transformative era in the fight against meningococcal meningitis in Africa.

“Building on the legacy of previous vaccination efforts, this milestone reflects over a decade of unwavering, innovative partnerships.

“The promise of MenFive® lies not just in its immediate impact but in the countless lives it stands to protect in the years to come, moving us closer to a future free from the threat of this disease,” Mugala said.

According to her, in 2019, WHO and partners launched the global roadmap to defeating meningitis by 2030.

“The roadmap sets a comprehensive vision towards a world free of meningitis and has three goals, including the elimination of bacterial meningitis epidemics.”

Another goal is the reduction of cases of vaccine-preventable bacterial meningitis by 50 per cent and deaths by 70 per cent, as well as the reduction of disability and improvement of quality of life after meningitis, due to any cause.

Ms Aurélia Nguyen, Chief Programme Officer at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, was also quoted as saying that with outbreaks of infectious diseases on the rise worldwide, new innovations such as MenFive® were critical in helping the fight back.

She said that Vaccine Alliance funds the global stockpile as well as vaccine rollout in lower-income countries.

“This first shipment signals the start of Gavi support for a multivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MMCV) programme which, with the required donor funding for our next five years of work, will see pentavalent meningococcal conjugate vaccines rolled out in high-risk countries.

“Thanks to vaccines, we have eliminated large and disruptive outbreaks of meningitis A in Africa, and now we have a tool to respond to other serogroups that still cause large outbreaks, resulting in long-term disability and deaths,” Nguyen said.

According to her, following Nigeria’s meningitis vaccine campaign, a major milestone on the road to defeat meningitis is the international summit on meningitis taking place in Paris in April 2024, where leaders will celebrate progress, identify challenges and assess next steps.

“It is also an opportunity for country leaders and key partners to commit, politically and financially, to accelerate progress towards eliminating meningitis as a public health problem by 2030,” she said. (NAN)
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Nnamdi Kanu’s Case Proof Of Religious Persecution In Nigeria – US lawmaker, John James

Published

1 day ago

November 20, 2025

Editor

Former chairman of the Africa Subcommittee and now a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Representative, John James, has claimed that the case of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, is proof of religious persecution in Nigeria.

James stated this when the United States House Subcommittee on Africa on Thursday, held a public hearing to review President Donald Trump’s recent redesignation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern.

The hearing in Washington, DC included senior US State Department officials and Nigerian religious leaders.

James claimed that in the case of Nnamdi Kanu, Nigeria’s Court of Appeal had struck down the charges against him and ordered his release in 2022.

He said: “Religious persecution is tied to political repression and weakening institutions in Nigeria. The detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is a clear example.

“In 2022, Nigeria’s Court of Appeals struck down the charges against him and ordered his release.

“The UN Working Group for Arbitrary Detention has also called for his unconditional release, yet he remains in solitary confinement in deteriorating health and recently had to represent himself in court.

“Nigeria has signaled that the law is optional and targeting Christians is fair game. Just hours ago this morning, despite the pleas and cries of Nigerian people and many Nigerian lawmakers, Kanu was convicted on all charges.”

Nnamdi Kanu was on Thursday, sentenced to life imprisonment over terrorism charges.

Headline

Nigerians Don’t Trust Their Govt – US Congressman Riley Moore

Published

1 day ago

November 20, 2025

Editor

US Congressman Riley Moore has said that Nigerian people do not trust their government.

Moore stated this on Thursday at US House of Representatives Subcommittee on Africa, which is investigating Trump’s redesignation of Nigeria as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’, CPC.

“The Nigerian people don’t trust their government. ‘How can you trust a government that doesn’t show up when you ask them to?

“The Nigerian government must work with the US in cooperation to address these insecurity issues.

“A case that just happened recently in Plateau state. We had a pastor there who warned the Nigerian government that they were under attack. There’s imminent attack forces here in the next 24 hours. Please come and help us.

“The Nigerian government did not only ignore it but put up a press release that it is fake news,” he said.

Moore would be meeting with a delegation of senior members of the Nigerian government, over the devastating insecurity in Nigeria and the US designation of the country as CPC, DAILY POST reports.

Headline

US Makes U-turn, To Attend G20 Summit In South Africa

Published

1 day ago

November 20, 2025

Editor

In an 11th-hour about-turn, the United States has told South Africa it wants to take part in this weekend’s G20 summit in Johannesburg, President Cyril Ramaphosa said Thursday.

President Donald Trump’s administration had said it would not take part in the November 22-23 meeting and that no final statement by G20 leaders could be issued without its presence.

It has clashed with South Africa over various international and domestic policies this year, extending its objections to Pretoria’s G20 priorities for the meeting of leading economies being held for the first time in Africa.

“We have received notice from the United States, a notice which we are still in discussions with them over, about a change of mind about participating in one shape, form or other in the summit,” Ramaphosa told reporters.

“This comes at the late hour before the summit begins. And so therefore, we do need to engage in those types of discussions to see how practical it is and what it finally really means,” he said.

There was no immediate confirmation from US officials.

Ramaphosa said: “We still need to engage with them to understand fully what their participation at the 11th hour means and how it will manifest itself.”

In a note to the government on Saturday, the US embassy repeated that it would not attend the summit, saying South Africa’s G20 priorities “run counter to the US policy views and we cannot support consensus on any documents negotiated under your presidency”.

Ramaphosa said earlier Thursday that South Africa would not be bullied.

“It cannot be that a country’s geographical location or income or army determines who has a voice and who is spoken down to,” he told delegates at a G20 curtain-raiser event.

There “should be no bullying of one nation by another”, he said.

– ‘Positive sign’ –
Ramaphosa said the apparent change of heart was “a positive sign”.

“All countries are here, and the United States, the biggest economy in the world, needs to be here,” he said.

South Africa chose “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability” as the theme of its presidency of the G20, which comprises 19 countries and two regional bodies, the European Union and the African Union.

Its agenda focuses on strengthening disaster resilience, improving debt sustainability for low-income countries, financing a “just energy transition” and harnessing “critical minerals for inclusive growth and sustainable development”.

After early objections from Washington, it vowed to press on with its programme and its aim to find consensus on a leaders’ statement on the outcome of the discussions.

“We will not be told by anyone who is absent that we cannot adopt a declaration or make any decisions at the summit,” Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said Thursday.

Trump has singled out South Africa for harsh treatment on a number of issues since he returned to the White House in January, notably making debunked claims of white Afrikaners being systematically “killed and slaughtered” in the country.

He expelled South Africa’s ambassador in March and has imposed 30 percent trade tariffs, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.

US businesses were well represented at a separate Business 20 (B20) event that wound up in Johannesburg Thursday.

The head of the US Chamber of Commerce, Suzanne Clark, thanked South Africa for fostering “real collaboration between G20 nations during a time of rapid change” during its rotating presidency, which transfers to the United States for 2026.

“The US Chamber of Commerce will use our B20 leadership to foster international collaboration,” Clark said.

The United States has significant business interests in South Africa with more than 600 US companies operating in the country, according to the South African embassy in Washington.

G20 members account for 85 percent of global GDP and around two-thirds of the world’s population.