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Niger: Meningitis Outbreak - Mar 2017

Disaster description

On 29 March, the Government of Niger declared a meningitis epidemic in three health centers of the Niamey II health district. Six health districts are in alert in the regions of Tillabéry, Dosso and Tahoua.

The Ministry of Health launched a vaccination campaign on 06 April 2017, exclusively in the three affected districts of Niamey. The vaccination program is targeting people aged 2 to 20 years old, about 10,200 people for the first phase. Currently, the country has only 133,000 doses of vaccines. This limited supply prompted the Minister of Health to start vaccination in Niamey. (IFRC, 21 Apr 2017)

MSF conducted vaccination campaigns with local authorities for more than 463,800 people – aged between two and 20 years – in 28 health areas that had reached alert or epidemic thresholds in Niamey, Tillabery, Dosso, Tahoua, and Maradi. (MSF, 30 May 2017)

Since epi-week 15, the number of cases has fallen gradually and by 4 June 2017 there were only 4 suspected cases and no districts in ep- idemic or alert status. By 8 June 2017 there had been a total of 3,303 suspected cases, with 197 deaths (CFR 6%). However, surveillance is continuing. (WHO, 9 Jun 2017).

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