UGANDA: Eliminating meningitis saves 5,000 children a year, say officials

KAMPALA, 13 March 2008 (IRIN) - Up to 5,000 children under the age of five will be saved in Uganda every year after a vaccine halted mortality rates from the deadly strain of meningitis that has been infecting up to 30,000 people in the east African country, officials said on 13 March.

Sam Zaramba, the director-general of the health ministry, told IRIN that Haemophilus influenzae type b – commonly known as Hib - has been virtually wiped out in the country five years after a vaccine was introduced in nationwide immunisation programmes.

“Before we introduced the vaccine, we were recording up to 30,000 cases every year, with about 17 percent deaths. But in the past 12 months, we have not recorded any cases, meaning that we have eliminated the killer disease,” Zaramba told IRIN by telephone.

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