The burden of meningococcal meningitis in the African Meningitis Belt, from 2009 to 2014: a trend analysis

INTRODUCTION: Neisseria meningitides is the leading cause of meningitis in the African Meningitis Belt. The objective of this study was to conduct a trend analysis of the burden of meningococcal meningitis in the African Meningitis Belt countries from 2009 to 2014. METHODS: secondary data on incidence and death cases were collected from the World Health Organization (WHO) and analyzed to determine the trends of meningitis in the African Meningitis Belt countries using Microsoft excel and Stata 14. RESULTS: these data show unstable meningococcal meningitis outbreaks in the Meningitis Belt before and after the introduction of meningococcal A vaccine (MenAfriVac). The vaccine was introduced at different times in the different countries. E.g. it was introduced in 2010 across Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger while it was introduced from 2011 to 2016 in other countries through mass campaigns. Ever since the vaccine was introduced, there has been a decrease in the number of cases in the countries hence a reduction in the burden of the disease. CONCLUSION: after the introduction of the MenAfriVac, there has been a decline in the meningitis cases in Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ghana, Niger and Nigeria while Sudan shows a decrease only in 2014.