BANGUI, Central African Republic, Feb 13, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) --
International and local aid agencies launched a vaccination effort in the
Central African Republic to curb an outbreak of meningitis, a U.N. agency said.
A U.N. humanitarian affairs agency said Monday meningitis spread across the
northwestern districts in the Central African Republic at epidemic levels.
The top U.N. humanitarian coordinator Toby Lanzer said the vaccination campaign
targets some 80,000 people at the center of the epidemic, the humanitarian news
network for the United Nations, IRIN, said Wednesday.
The region is situated in the central African meningitis belt and the United
Nations said annual outbreaks occur in the region during the dry season, which
lasts from January to May.
Ruhala Bissimwa with the London-based aid group, Medical Emergency Relief,
International, expressed concern over the epidemic.
Aid agencies said less than a quarter of the population in the region have
access to healthcare and the people there have one of the lowest life
expectancies in the world.
Meningitis is lethal in 10 percent of cases.
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