To date, no meningococcal vaccine is being offered to tertiary students, and students remain unaware of their risk of carriage acquisition or disease. Public health responses and containment measures are instituted reactively following an episode of meningococcal disease. The latest Public Health Bulletin of South Africa sets out three implementation options to increase student awareness of the risk of meningococcal disease and to provide vaccination:

• Option 1: Implement an on-campus education campaign to improve awareness of meningococcal disease and prevention and promote meningococcal vaccine uptake.
• Option 2: Vaccinate all first-year tertiary students against meningococcal disease during the first month of registration.
• Option 3: Vaccinate only first-year students staying in institutional residences within the first month following registration.

The policy brief includes a decision analysis, including a cost analysis and a cost-effectiveness analysis, to determine which option is most effective and affordable for preventing meningococcal disease and deaths. It found that an awareness campaign combined with vaccination of first-year students in institutional residences (Options 1 and 3) is the most cost-effective and the most politically and operationally feasible approach to reduce meningococcal disease, deaths, and disabilities among students at South African tertiary institutions.

For additional details regarding the PHBSA, please visit www.phbsa.ac.za.