Five ASU students are on a mission to stop meningitis in Africa.
After creating OneShot, a nonprofit organization, the group of students plans to give out meningitis vaccinations in Burkina Faso, Mali and Nigeria in what they call “vaccination drops.”
The group of students involved with OneShot includes sustainability junior Ginger Whitesell, geography senior Geoff Prall, geography sophomore Tyler Eltringham and health sciences sophomores Tyler Liss and Corey Frahm.
Whitesell said the group is still in the planning process, but members have been contacted by other organizations interested in helping their cause.
“We have been contacted by the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and Meningitis Foundation of America, which gives us reassurance that what we do is right and it is very validating,” Whitesell said.
Group members hope to be in Africa working with a clinic for the first vaccine drop, but accomplishing this goal depends on raising enough money.
The group received $10,000 through ASU’s Innovation Challenge, but members said it would cost about $43,000 to complete their “vaccination drop” in Africa and is looking to raise more money.
“Our ultimate goal is to be there when we do a vaccine drop,” Liss said.
Eltringham, founder and CEO of OneShot, said his team had some very specific plans to make their goals a reality.
“In our pipe dream, a vaccine drop means the officers and our team of nurses, geographers and other team members would all go to [these] village[s] and provide the vaccinations, as well as give education and advocacy components of the disease to the inhabitants as a way to create global social impact,” Eltringham said.
He also said the response his group has received from other organizations like the CDC and MFA gives him confidence that the group should be successful.
“[It] looks like we have the resources to have a great first year,” Eltringham said.
He said he started working on the OneShot program as a way to get into medical school, but he realized meningitis was a big issue that no one was acting on.
“It is a disease that is a real problem, and no one is talking about it,” Eltringham said. “Our goal is to take a medical issue and make it a social issue.”
He said he wants to help those in need, and his group can really make a difference.
“It quickly went from a selfish idea to a real hope for change,” Eltringham said.
He said he got the idea for his vaccination drops from TOMS Shoes, a company that performs “shoe drops” — donating a pair of shoes to needy people around the world for every pair they sell.
Eltringham said he and his group plan to make a difference by doing a test run in the fall and giving vaccines during the University residential hall move-in.
“Based on how many [vaccines] we give there, we will determine how many vaccines we can give in Africa,” Eltringham said.
Eltringham said his organization does have a backup plan in case they aren’t able to raise enough money to actually go to Africa during the first vaccine drop.
“The second option would involve us working in more auxiliary role for our first year and act as a source of vaccinations for this clinic,” Eltringham said. “We will be working with the ministry of health in our country to ensure the vaccines we are providing to them makes it to their clinic and [are] provided at no cost to the patients.”
Reach the reporter at brian.bernadel@asu.edu
