Accra, (Greater Accra) 11 Jan. '99,

The World Health Organisation (WHO), has warned African countries on the Meningitis belt that a minimum global stock of seven million doses of vaccines is needed for the upcoming Meningitis season which begins from late November to May.

The Meningitis belt in West Africa runs from Senegal through Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Chad, Niger to Nigeria.

A WHO statement in Accra today said available stockpiles of vaccine at present are only six million to counter the current Meningitis epidemic which has caused over 300, 000 cases in the countries in the south- east of Africa.

Dr Lindsay Martinez, director of WHO's department of communicable diseases surveillance and response said ''given the fact that many African countries have not yet experienced an upsurge in this epidemic cycle, we must be prepared for a number of cases there to increase dramatically in the near future''.

The statement said countries being hit by the epidemic at the moment need an effective international response ''and that means maintaining sufficient vaccine stocks and smooth distribution system''.

African Meningitis season normally runs from late November through April, with the bulk of cases reported from February onwards. '' But the current epidemic which began in West Africa in the mid- 1990s has Chad, Mali, Niger and Nigeria as the worst affected countries''.

The statement said an International Coordination Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision for Epidemics has been formed to co-ordinate, finance, distribute and reserve vaccine stocks across Africa.

Though the ICG has since 1997 distributed 14 million doses of vaccine to affected countries, in total, about 280 million people across the Meningitis belt are still at risk, the statement added.

GRi