science

Meningitis Vaccine Project

Meningitis Vaccine Project is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Meningitis Vaccine Project rather than just read about it. In short: The Meningitis Vaccine Project is an effort to eliminate meningitis epidemics in Sub-Saharan Africa by developing a new meningococcal vaccine. Most outbreaks of meningococcal disease in the region, also known as the meningitis belt, are caused by serotype A of Neisseria meningitidis ("meningitis A").

Key takeaways

Meningitis Vaccine Project belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Meningitis Vaccine Project to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Meningitis Vaccine Project from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Meningitis Vaccine Project is an effort to eliminate meningitis epidemics in Sub-Saharan Africa by developing a new meningococcal vaccine. Most outbreaks of meningococcal disease in the region, also known as the meningitis belt, are caused by serotype A of Neisseria meningitidis ("meningitis A"). In June 2010, various sources announced that they had developed MenAfriVac, which is an inexpensive, safe, and highly effective vaccine that reduces rates of meningitis A infection. The project marked the first time that medical research had developed a vaccine to combat a disease that is endemic to and only a problem for Africa. The project began in 2001 when the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded the World Health Organization and the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) a US $70 million seed grant to begin research.

Background

In 2001, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded the World Health Organization and the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) a US$70 million seed grant to launch the Meningitis Vaccine Project.

Implementation The mission of the project is to eliminate meningococcal disease (colloquially referred to simply as meningitis) as a public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa through the development, testing, introduction, and widespread use of conjugate meningococcal vaccines. The project recently developed MenAfriVac, a low-cost conjugate A vaccine that is ready for widespread distribution to people between the ages of 1 and 29 in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, three countries in the African meningitis belt with the highest rates of meningitis.

Manufacture By working with the Serum Institute of India Ltd. to manufacture the vaccine, the project was able to develop a vaccine that would be affordable to developing African countries, priced at less than $US.50 per dose. Unlike existing vaccines, MenAfriVac also provides immunity for a long period—10 to 15 years—and is safe for use in infants one year of age and older. Following successful trials, the vaccine was introduced in three African countries in 2010.

See also African meningitis belt 2009–10 West African meningitis outbreak Meningococcal vaccine

Sources

External links Official website PATH project page

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Meningitis Vaccine Project

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Meningitis Vaccine Project claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Meningitis Vaccine Project before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Meningitis Vaccine Project ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Meningitis Vaccine Project

In research: Meningitis Vaccine Project appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Meningitis Vaccine Project in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Meningitis Vaccine Project is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Meningitis, Vaccination-related organizations, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Meningitis Vaccine Project outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Meningitis Vaccine Project in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Meningitis Vaccine Project means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Meningitis Vaccine Project out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Meningitis Vaccine Project in simple terms?

Why does Meningitis Vaccine Project matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Meningitis Vaccine Project?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Meningitis Vaccine Project.