Website of the Department of Health
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Preventing meningitis
- 1. What is meningitis
- 2. Types of meningitis
- 3. Recognising meningococcal disease
- 4. Improving recognition
- 5. Protecting young children
- 6. Raising awareness among young people and students
- 7. The meningitis C campaign
- 8. Reducing the impact of group C meningococcal infection in young people
- 9. Group B meningococcal infection
- 10. Group A and Group W135 strains of meningococcal disease
- 11. Travellers to Hajj or Umrah
- 12. Links
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11. Travellers to Hajj or Umrah
As a result of the outbreaks of W135 meningococcal disease among returning Hajj pilgrims, the Chief Medical Officer met with Muslim leaders in July 2001 to discuss the situation and consider the best course of action.
As a result of this meeting and representations made to the Saudi Arabian Embassy, the Department of Health introduced a new awareness raising campaign in November 2001, to alert all pilgrims travelling to Saudi Arabia for Hajj or Umrah about the risk of meningococcal W135 infection and advising on vaccination against the disease.
The W135 vaccination and awareness campaign
The awareness campaign aims to reduce the incidence of Group A and Group W135 meningitis and, more broadly, educate pilgrims about the health issues related to travelling to Saudi Arabia, such as heat and overcrowded conditions.
Experience with the successful 2001 awareness campaign shows that in order to ensure messages reach Muslim audiences, the following barriers must be overcome:
- differences in language and literacy barriers;
- perception that past immunisations mean that there is no risk;
- and reliance on targeted media as opposed to mainstream sources of information.
Since 2001, leaflets and posters have been designed to convey clear information about preventing Group A and Group W135 infection and other health threats. These are available in English, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Arabic, Turkish and Somali.
Working with the Muslim Council of Britain and the Association of British Hujjaj, the Department of Health has distributed leaflets and posters to mosques across the country. Additionally, they are sent to general practitioners in areas with large Muslim communities and to approved travel agents.
The Department of Health has also awarded a Section 64 grant to the Association of British Hujjaj, a voluntary organisation working for the welfare of British pilgrims. This group organises seminars and events around the country regarding health management, prevention of communicable diseases for pilgrims travelling from the UK and groups that are hard to reach. They have also launched their own website www.abhuk.com so pilgrims can obtain advice from the web.
Impact of the combined Group A and Group W135 vaccination and awareness campaign
In January 2005, as Hajj pilgrims began their annual preparations to travel to Mecca, Sir Liam Donaldson said,
"Meningococcal infection is not only a serious threat to those travelling to the Hajj but also to their friends and family when they return. The number of cases and deaths from Hajj related meningitis W135 has dropped sharply thanks to our awareness raising campaign backed up with making vaccination a requirement for travel, both carried out in conjunction with the Muslim community".
Indeed, the success of these measures has been such that in 2004, there were no cases of meningitis W135 reported in UK pilgrims to Hajj or Umrah. The awareness campaign will continue to run in coming years.
Travel advice for pilgrims to Hajj or Umrah
Previous vaccination against meningitis A or C does not protect against meningitis W135, and you need to be revaccinated with the quadrivalent A,C,W,Y vaccine every 3 years.
All pilgrims going to Hajj or Umrah are now required by the Government of Saudi Arabia to have a valid certificate of vaccination against four different strains of meningitis A, C, W and Y strains before they are issued with a visa.
Anyone who has not received the 'quadrivalent' meningococcal vaccine (ACWY Vac) may be refused entry into the country. A certificate is issued after receiving the vaccination. The vaccination and certificate are available from GPs or specialist travel health centres.
Although the A,C,W,Y vaccination protects for up to five years, the Government of Saudi Arabia requires that valid certificates for visa purposes be no older than three years old. Therefore anyone who has received vaccination and visited hajj or umrah longer than three years ago, will not be granted a visa unless they are re vaccinated.
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