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Climate Science for Serving Society pp 459–484Cite as

A Climate and Health Partnership to Inform the Prevention and Control of Meningoccocal Meningitis in Sub-Saharan Africa: The MERIT Initiative

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Abstract

Many human diseases are climate-sensitive: climate acting as an important driver of spatial and seasonal patterns, year-to-year variations (including epidemics), and longer-term trends. Although climate is only one of the many drivers of both infectious and non-infectious disease, public health policy makers and practitioners are increasingly concerned about the potential impact of climate change on the health of populations.

The MERIT Initiative was launched in 2007 to provide a platform for enabling health specialists (public health specialists, epidemiologists, immunologists, microbiologists, demographers, etc.) and climate and environment specialists to work together to help solve a pressing health problem. The main objective of the initiative is to address meningococcal meningitis epidemics in Africa in the context of perceived environmental, biological, economic and demographic influences. The effort is designed to create new knowledge that can be used to improve the current (reactive) and future (preventive) vaccination strategies.

Preliminary results of this research to policy and practice consortium have advanced the understanding of how climate-related information can be tailored to inform and, where possible, strengthen public health decisions. Specifically, the MERIT experience to date indicates new evidence on the contribution that climate and environment make to the spatio-temporal distribution of meningococcal meningitis and demonstrates a multi-sectoral strategic approach to the creation of evidence, together with the development of a cumulative knowledge base. The MERIT Initiative is establishing an effective means for the dissemination of new knowledge and provides a platform to facilitate access to this knowledge by public health practitioners. These developments, along with an increase in the uptake of evidence in both policy and practice have the potential to impact health outcomes in vulnerable at-risk populations in Africa’s Meningitis Belt.

The collaborative partnership model of MERIT provides an innovative framework to support public health preparedness and control strategies for climate sensitive diseases. Public health decision-makers have been willing to explore unfamiliar territory and opportunities for improving well-established control strategies by leveraging new knowledge and expertise from other disciplinary communities including climate and environmental researchers. Equally important have been the investments made by a multi-disciplinary research and practice community to adapt research projects in line with the evolving public health strategy across the Meningitis Belt. The lessons learned from the MERIT project offer valuable input and new ideas for improving global public health strategies for other climate and environmentally sensitive epidemic prone diseases.

All rights reserved. The World Health Organization has granted the Publisher permission for the reproduction of this chapter.

The authors Stéphane Hugonnet, Emily Firth and William Perea are (or were at the time of writing) staff member of the World Health Organization. These authors alone are responsible for views expressed in this publication and they do not necessarily represent the decisions or policies of the World Health Organization.

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Acknowledgements

The MERIT Steering Committee thanks the broad stakeholder community represented by the names of those included in the many presentations associated with MERIT Technical Meetings for their comments on this report. The individuals and research groups draw on a wide range of funding sources to support their work. The MERIT Steering Committee is grateful to all MERIT partners who have shared their experiences and insights into the MERIT Initiative to date, and to Dr. David Rogers of the Health and Climate Foundation for facilitating the partnership network and communications activities. The discussions with partners and views expressed have been a valuable part of the MERIT Situational Analysis initially presented at the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) Open Science Conference in October 2011 and as described in this chapter. The full list of MERIT partners as well as MERIT meeting reports and related publications are available on the MERIT website at http://merit.hc-foundation.org/.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Research Institute for Climate and Society, The Earth Institute, Columbia University, 104 Monell, 61 Route 9 W, 1000, Palisades, NY, 10964, USA

    Madeleine C. Thomson

  2. Pandemic and Epidemic Diseases Department, World Health Organization, Avenue Appia 20, CH-1211, Geneva, Switzerland

    E. Firth, W. Perea, E. Bertherat & S. Hugonnet

  3. Health and Climate Foundation, Champ Courtet, Marchissy, 1261, Switzerland

    M. Jancloes

  4. Health, Development and Anti Malaria Association, 27279, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    A. Mihretie

  5. Group on Earth Observations, 7 bis, avenue de la Paix, 2300, Geneva 2, CH-1211, Switzerland

    M. Onoda

  6. World Meteorological Organization, 7bis, avenue de la Paix, 2300, Geneva 2, CH-1211, Switzerland

    S. Nickovic

  7. MIVEGEC, UMR 5290 CNRS- 224IRD- UM1- UM2 Centre de Recherche IRD, 911, Avenue Agropolis, 64501, 34394, Montpellier, Cedex 5, France

    H. Broutin

  8. Center for Vaccine Development, CVD-Mali, Centre National D’Appui A La Lutte Contre La Maladie, Ministère de la Santé, Institut Marchoux, 251, Bamako, Mali

    S. Sow

Authors
  1. Madeleine C. Thomson
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  2. E. Firth
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  3. M. Jancloes
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  4. A. Mihretie
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  5. M. Onoda
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  6. S. Nickovic
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  7. H. Broutin
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  8. S. Sow
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  9. W. Perea
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  10. E. Bertherat
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  11. S. Hugonnet
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Madeleine C. Thomson .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. World Climate Research Programme, World Meteorological Organization, bis, Avenue de la Paix 7, Geneva 2, 1211, Switzerland

    Ghassem R. Asrar

  2. Earth System Laboratory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Center Green Drive 3090, Boulder, 80301, Colorado, USA

    James W. Hurrell

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Thomson, M.C. et al. (2013). A Climate and Health Partnership to Inform the Prevention and Control of Meningoccocal Meningitis in Sub-Saharan Africa: The MERIT Initiative. In: Asrar, G., Hurrell, J. (eds) Climate Science for Serving Society. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6692-1_17

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