Worldwide awareness and health policy change are crucial to defeat meningitis. That’s why, in our 2025 – 2030 strategy, one of our three priorities is to act for better health outcomes for people at risk of, and affected by, meningitis.
Our campaigns make sure people know meningitis is a threat, so communities worldwide can be safe from harm. We put the voices of people affected by meningitis in front of those who make decisions about the healthcare available to us all, to ensure meningitis is a global health priority that cannot be ignored.
We make sure like-minded people and groups have the tools and evidence they need, enabling collaboration to drive change in communities across the world.
What is the challenge we want to address?
Awareness of meningitis is still too low. People are not routinely aware of the signs and symptoms of meningitis, the vaccines they need and can access, when to seek lifesaving medical help or what the life-long impact of a meningitis diagnosis can be. People are not as well protected or supported as they should be and health policy and funding does not meet their needs.
The voice of civil society advocating for change is not as strong as it needs to be because of resources and barriers between institutional processes and civil society. Whilst the Confederation of Meningitis Organisations (CoMO), our global member network, has over 150 members in more than 50 countries, the majority are volunteers operating on no or little funding. The investment case for the World Health Organization’s Global Road Map to Defeat Meningitis by 2030 calls for new funds for civil society, including for their involvement in national plans. Without this, its aims cannot be delivered.
People who are affected by meningitis are not listened to or routinely involved in the development of health policy. CoMO brings together people from over 50 countries who have direct experience of all aspects of meningitis. They are uniquely placed to say what is needed, so we have robust and patient-centered health policies across the world.
Countries do not yet have the tools they need to communicate effectively about meningitis. Our health communication research in sub-Saharan Africa has evidenced the significant gaps in tools and resources needed to communicate effectively about meningitis. Plugging this gap in all regions of the world will accelerate progress in defeating meningitis.
What is our ambition?
Between 2025 and 2030, we have committed to:
- Increase awareness of meningitis, including maintaining World Meningitis Day as the world’s largest day of collective action on meningitis (with over 80% of countries taking action).
- Grow and strengthen our member network, CoMO, to over 300 members in more than 60 countries.
- Ensure the voices and needs of people affected by meningitis remain at the heart of our work, reaching over 2,000 Meningitis in your words testimonies, hosting five CoMO conferences on the lived experience of meningitis and using this collective, global voice to drive action through our Race to 2030 advocacy programme.
- Develop an evidence-led, meningitis health communication strategy, which is used and adopted in all regions of the world.
What do we want to achieve?
- Better health outcomes for people at risk of, and affected by, meningitis globally and in the UK.
- A stronger civil society voice, equipped to demand the change that is needed.
- Citizen demand and participation in the development and implementation of national plans on meningitis.
- A systematic approach to increasing awareness of meningitis at a national level.