ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria has received more than 1 million vaccines from the Gavi-funded global stockpile to combat a meningitis outbreak in the northern part of the country, the government said on Friday.

At least 74 people have died from the disease, with more than 800 cases reported across 23 of Nigeria’s 36 states, according to the Nigeria Center for Disease Control, or NCDC. The northern region of the country has been hit hardest by the disease.

Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate said that the arrival of the vaccines is a crucial milestone in Nigeria’s response to the current meningitis outbreak.

“We have prioritized epidemic preparedness and rapid response as part of our broader health security agenda,” Pate said in a joint statement by the global vaccine alliance Gavi, UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the Nigerian government.

The vaccine is also critical to Nigeria’s long-term health security and helping prevent future outbreaks and safeguarding future generations, said Walter Kazadi Mulombo, WHO’s representative in Nigeria.

Meningitis, more common during the hot season in Nigeria, affects the protective membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. It's a significant public health challenge in Africa’s most populous country, which is also battling malaria.

Nigeria previously received aid from the U.S. Agency for International Development to combat these diseases, but that support has recently been withdrawn.

Nigeria is located in an area known as the African Meningitis Belt. Between 2022 and 2023, the country recorded 2,765 suspected cases and 190 deaths, according to NCDC.

Nigeria is working to implement a road map approved by the World Health Assembly in November 2020 that aims to eradicate meningitis by 2030.