Zaitun Ibrahim in Nairobi
"A strong volunteer base helped us fight a disease we had not experienced in decades," says Ali Sheikh, the Somali Red Crescent Society (SRCS) coordinator in Somaliland.
The Red Crescent mobilized more than 100 volunteers in the campaign against the meningitis outbreak which began last October in Hargeisa, the capital of the self-declared republic of Somaliland in north-west Somalia.
The town lies outside the modern Sub-Saharan meningitis belt. But in the 1920s and 1930s meningitis killed many people in the region. SRCS staff and volunteers had played a major role in detection of cases in the community and in clinics.
The Somalis call meningitis gorgui - which translates as "neck cutting disease," a reference to its symptoms which include acute stiff neck.
The Red Crescent volunteers were divided into two roughly equal teams for the week-long immunization drive - one for social mobilization, moving from house to house talking to people and preparing them for vaccination, and the other supporting medical teams at the actual vaccination points.
"There has been very good coordination with all the involved partners," said Selma Bernardi, health officer for Africa at the International Federation in Geneva.
The SRCS in Somaliland has been working with the health ministry, WHO, UNICEF and Médecins Sans Frontières in the drive to halt the spread of meningitis, which targeted people between the ages of two and 40. A total of 23 teams took part, coordinated by the National Epidemic Task Force, and nearly 70,000 people were vaccinated in the first two days, according to a WHO report late last week.
Early detection of a meningitis epidemic is essential for effective response. Somali health officials are quoted as saying 33 people have died so far out of a total of nearly 150 cases.
About half the Somaliland cases were identified as Neisseraia meningitidis serogroup A. "If not controlled quickly this type of the disease can spread rapidly and become an epidemic, especially in a crowded setting of cities," a WHO official said.
Meningitis epidemics usually spread rapidly to a peak within weeks, but may last for several months in the absence of vaccination. Transmission is by direct contact, including respiratory droplets from nose and throat of infected persons.After a serious outbreak of meningitis in West and Central Africa, the Federation last April appealed for 480,000 Swiss francs to assist more than half a million beneficiaries. In its appeal, the Federation said that the national societies' volunteer networks would be "crucial to a successful outcome" for social mobilization and vaccination support efforts. The hardest hit countries were Burkina Faso, Benin and Niger.