Counting the cost

Counting the Cost reveals the shocking lifelong costs of surviving meningitis and septicaemia and calls on Government to pursue the widest and earliest implementation of vaccines to prevent the diseases.

Counting the Cost of Meningitis is a comprehensive analysis of the lifetime impact of the diseases on illustrative case studies:

• Peter, who was 18 months old when he was struck down with septicaemia which left him with multiple amputations and behavioural difficulties
• Emma, who was three years old when she became ill with meningitis which left her brain damaged, deaf and partially blind

Meningitis and septicaemia are illnesses that have far-reaching consequences for quality of life, with ongoing need for specialist medical care, and impact on education, work, finances and family.

They impose substantial financial costs on the state, demonstrated in the severe cases of meningitis and septicaemia described in our case notes. There are also significant costs to the families themselves: it costs three times as much to raise a disabled child¹, and families with a disabled child are four times as likely to be living in poverty².

Why prevention?

MRF seeks to improve the outlook for people affected by campaigning for early recognition, better treatment, and comprehensive aftercare and support.

However, there are limits to the improvements that can be achieved this way; only prevention through immunisation can eliminate meningitis and septicaemia.

Immunisation has been a tremendous success. It has virtually eliminated meningitis and septicaemia due to meningococcal C and Hib (Haemophilus influenzae b) infections, and greatly reduced pneumococcal meningitis.

Now there is a vaccine on the horizon against meningococcal B (MenB), for decades the leading cause of life-threatening meningitis and septicaemia in UK children. There may also be further opportunities to prevent death and disability through wider use of new and existing vaccines.

There has been an increasing focus on cost-effectiveness when considering new vaccines – only those that pass stringent evaluation of cost-benefit are introduced.

However, even the purely medical costs for those severely affected by meningitis and septicaemia are underestimated because of the lack of published cost of illness data. Moreover, the cost-benefit analyses that underpin the introduction of new vaccines do not consider the full medical, educational and societal costs of the diseases.

The existing system for evaluating vaccines focuses on costs to the NHS rather than a wider societal perspective. Vaccines can alleviate a lifelong burden on carers, prevent loss of earnings in those affected, and save major costs to the state, due to educational and social needs as well as medical needs.

1. Dobson B, Middleton S. 1998. Paying to care: the cost of childhood disability. Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
2. Emerson E, Hatton C. 2005. The socio-economic circumstance of families supporting a child at risk of disability in Britain in 2002. Institute for Health Research, Lancaster University.

• Government to pursue the widest and earliest possible implementation of effective vaccines against all strains of meningitis and septicaemia across the UK. There may soon be an opportunity to prevent MenB (meningococcal group b disease) the leading cause of life-threatening meningitis and septicaemia in UK children
• Government to change its criteria for assessing the value of vaccination for meningitis and septicaemia to include full medical costs, plus social and educational costs of the disease.

What you can do

• Sign our petitition for a MenB vaccine to be included in the Childhood Immunisation Schedule as soon as one that is safe and effective is available;
• Write to your MP to let them know about your support for the Counting the Cost campaign for meningitis and septicaemia vaccines. Your letter will ask your MP to take action by writing to the Secretary of State for Health and sign our petition in support of introduction of meningitis and septicaemia vaccines into the Childhood immunisation Schedule.
• Download our resources to spread the message about Counting the Cost