Meningitis outbreak kills over 250 Burkina Faso
Pastor Dale Morgan
Meningitis outbreak kills over 250 Burkina Faso*
24 Feb 2007 14:43:02 GMT
Source: Reuters
OUAGADOUGOU, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Burkina Faso has called for
international aid to combat a meningitis outbreak which has killed 258
people since the start of the year.
Health Minister Alain Yoda said late on Friday the government needed 790
million CFA francs ($1.6 million) in immediate aid to help finance a
vaccination campaign after the West African country's stocks ran out.
"I launch a solemn appeal to all the partners of Burkina Faso who have
always been by our side that they once more bring us the help we need so
we can conquer this epidemic as soon as possible," Yoda said.
With 2,752 recorded cases, the mortality rate in the latest outbreak was
9.3 percent, he said. Of 55 health districts in the country, five had
reached epidemic proportions -- at least 10 cases for every 100,000
inhabitants.
Yoda called on the World Health Organisation to supply 3.1 million doses
of vaccine for the 15 districts at greatest risk.
The bacteria and viruses which cause meningitis, an inflammation of the
membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, are often transmitted by
coughing or sneezing. People with reduced immunity to disease or
malnutrition are more at risk.
A landlocked country in the arid Sahel region just south of the Sahara
desert, Burkina Faso ranked as the third poorest country on earth in the
United Nation's 2005 Human Development Index. Half its 13 million people
live on less than $1 a day.
Health experts have hailed progress in fighting meningitis in Burkina
Faso, pointing out that mortality rates have fallen sharply. As recently
as 2005 the mortality rate was over 20 percent.