About MVP

The Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP) is a partnership between the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH). Created in 2001 with core funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, its goal is to eliminate epidemic meningitis as a public health problem in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Meningitis may not be the number one killer disease in Africa, but it is one of the most feared diseases. What's most frightening about the disease is the speed at which it develops and the severity of the aftereffects:

• At least 10 percent of infected individuals die during the acute episode
• Some 10-20 percent of survivors develop permanent sequelae such as epilepsy, hearing loss, or mental retardation.

In the so called 'meningitis belt' that stretches from Ethiopia to Gambia and Senegal,

• Meningococcal disease has killed more than 100,000 people between 1988 and 1997, with more than 704,000 cases reported to the World Health Organization.
• Half of the victims are adolescents and young adults, many of whom provide income for themselves, their children, and their extended families.

In addition to causing immense human suffering, meningococcal epidemics bring enormous social and economic chaos for the affected countries. The massive public health interventions they require are disruptive and expensive.

In addition, existing vaccines are only partially effective due to three shortfalls:

• They do not produce long-lasting protection
• They do not protect very young children
• They do not decrease transmission of the organism in the population.

Photo Credit: Benoît Lange

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