Evaluating Cost and Performance for Improved Meningitis Disease Surveillance in Chad

Introduction The costs of addressing specific needs to improve surveillance systems in sub-Saharan Africa are often unknown. For centuries meningococcal meningitis epidemics have occurred every few years in the Sahelian and sub-sahel regions of Africa also referred to as the “African meningitis belt”. A serogroup A meningococcal conjugate vaccine, MenAfriVac®, was licensed in 2009 and introduced in phases through mass immunization campaigns for all 1-29 year olds. The long term health impact of MenAfriVac® can only be determined if strong disease surveillance is in place. The objective was to estimate the costs and assess the performance of meningitis surveillance in Chad to determine resources needed for implementing a district casebased surveillance strategy.