A Meningitis Outbreak in Northwest Nigeria Has Now Killed 26 People
Daily life in Northwest Nigeria [AP Photo/Sunday Alamba]
Nigerian health officials confirmed that 26 people have died so far in an outbreak in the northwest of the country. The outbreak began in January with a total of 248 suspected cases so far. The number of cases is continuing to rise as the outbreak spreads in the meningitis-prone region. Nigeria is located in the “African Meningitis Belt”, a region consistently plagued with outbreaks of the disease. In addition to meningitis, which is a contagious disease, Nigeria is also dealing with high rates of malaria, further complicating the public health response. So far, public health officials have sent medical supplies to help with treatment and set up isolation centers to attempt to contain the spread. This outbreak comes against a backdrop of efforts in Nigeria to prevent the spread of meningitis through public health projects.
Nigeria has tried to take preventative measures to limit the spread of meningitis, having announced a vaccine campaign in April 2024. Nigeria created a 5-in-1 vaccine to protect against meningitis, which provides much better protection against the disease than the existing vaccine, which only targeted one strand of the bacteria. This kind of vaccine is especially helpful in Nigeria and other countries that experience frequent meningitis outbreaks as often they are caused by more than one strand of the bacteria at the same time. This innovation is a major step in preventing future outbreaks. The World Health Organization has a plan to eliminate meningitis by 2030 and vaccine campaigns that target populations at high risk due to living in the meningitis belt support that effort. This project is heavily supported by international funding. However, Nigeria’s national public health infrastructure’s funding is currently in jeopardy due to shifts in foreign aid funding abroad.
Map of Nigerian states with meningitis outbreaks from October 2022 to April 2023 [Cerebrospinal Meningitis Situation Report/Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention]
Due to recent cuts in the US Agency for International Development, there have been setbacks in the public health systems of nations like Nigeria in responding to these outbreaks and taking preventative measures. USAID contributed about $2.8 billion to the Nigerian healthcare system between 2022 and 2024, which has been primarily spent on addressing illnesses such as malaria, polio, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDs. This includes efforts to deliver medication and vaccines, as well as work to contain existing outbreaks.
Withdrawing USAID funding from Nigeria, threatens the progress that Nigeria have made within their health infrastructure. This includes efforts to combat infectious diseases. Nigeria depends a lot on foreign aid to allow their health infrastructure to continue to function. Halting this funding is predicted to lead to a resurgence in the spread of infectious disease as their ability to limit the spread of illness becomes weakened.
Nigeria did approve a $200 million budget to work to fill the gap of funding from foreign aid sources. However, this amount is only one-third of the money the country received from USAID in 2023. For a system that was already understaffed and underfunded, this further budget cut seriously threatens their ability to adequately respond to outbreaks. Hence, the current meningitis outbreak is facing some difficulties of a proper response without strong healthcare infrastructure to support those who are sick or at risk of contracting the disease.