We want a world free from meningitis and we’re working to make it happen.
We invest in research, raise life-saving awareness, advocate for change and support everyone affected by meningitis.
Since our founding in 1989, we’ve created lasting impact. Here’s a selection of just some of the ways we’ve made change happen.
We drive research
- We’ve awarded more than 160 research grants, sparking discoveries that include advances in a Group B Strep vaccine, study on post-traumatic stress disorder in children, advances in pathogen genomics and improved outcomes for babies with bacterial meningitis.
- Together, these awards have invested over £19.5 million in vital research on meningitis prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
- We commissioned the world’s first Meningococcal Genome Library, a resource that has saved lives for more than a decade.
- For over 15 years, we’ve hosted the world’s only global research conference dedicated to meningitis. Alongside our “spotlight” webinars, these events have brought together thousands of experts to share breakthroughs and tackle challenges.
We support people affected by meningitis
- Across the UK and Ireland, we offer more one-to-one support hours than any other meningitis charity.
- In 2025, we supported over 480 people by phone, email, live chat and social media.
- 86% of people said our Support Services helped them feel more informed and supported (Survey, January – October 2025).
- We train and support 30+ Ambassadors, all of whom have a deep and personal connection to meningitis. The help us reach communities across the UK and Ireland with vital information on meningitis prevention and care.
- 87% of organisations requesting our health information on meningitis are health services, helping us reach people at the point of care (Survey, January – October 2025).
- 100% of organisations requesting our health information say it helps people access relevant knowledge on meningitis (Survey, January – October 2025).
- In 2025, our outreach programme ensured more than 5,500 people at 50+ events across the UK are better informed on meningitis prevention, including at universities, colleges and in the community.
We build global awareness
- We coordinate World Meningitis Day, the world’s largest day of collective action against meningitis, reaching billions with life-saving messages of prevention and hope.
- 90% of civil society supporters say World Meningitis Day helped them spark conversations about meningitis in their communities (World Meningitis Day survey, 2024).
- In the UK, we’ve advocated for vaccine access since 1992, including for the MenB strain.
- We created the world’s largest digital collection of meningitis stories, Meningitis in your words, giving people a voice and raising awareness through lived experience.
- We serve on the World Health Organization’s global technical taskforce to defeat meningitis by 2030, as the only member organisation focused solely on meningitis.
- We connect survivors and families with media, represent them in global forums and advise Ministries of Health on engaging with communities.
We enable global advocates to lead change
- We support a worldwide network through the Confederation of Meningitis Organisations (CoMO), where over 180 members in 60 countries work together to share knowledge and drive change on meningitis.
- Through our World Meningitis Day Advocacy Fund, launched in 2024, we’ve funded 11 community projects in 11 countries, including Tanzania, the Philippines and Pakistan.
- Our largest group of CoMO members is in Africa, where meningitis is most prevalent. They raise awareness and share ideas, progress and best practices through CoMO.
- Every year, we host the CoMO member conference. In 2025, we brought members to South Africa to connect, learn and strengthen advocacy across the world.
- We’ve developed the only interactive dashboard that gathers global meningitis data in one place – the Meningitis Progress Tracker. It gives advocates the evidence points they need to make the case for defeating meningitis in countries all over the world.