The 3rd MERIT Technical Meeting and National Workshop took place in Niamey, Niger from 9-12 November. This meeting was organized to advance the collaborative activities between the public health and environmental communities to support epidemic meningitis preparedness and control strategies in Africa's ‘Meningitis Belt’. The meeting progressed development of a predictive tool for testing in the next epidemic season; the sharing of information on latest research projects and findings; and updated the MERIT community on progress of country-specific activities since the 2nd MERIT meeting held in Ethiopia in December 2008. A one-day national MERIT-Niger workshop followed the technical meeting for national meteorological staff, health practitioners and medical students, to engage with MERIT partners in training on MERIT projects and assessing the benefits and applications of MERIT-related activities in Niger.
Between 40 and 50 international and local participants attended the meeting, contributing expertise and information from the public health, epidemiological, bacteriological, environmental, climatic, socio-economic, and demographic communities. Check here for meeting presentations.
