Knowledge, and its application, is transformative in the fight to defeat meningitis, which is why we strive to connect people and research to drive action, so lives are saved.
From the development and improvement of vaccines, diagnostics and treatments, to understanding the lifelong impact of meningitis and how people can be supported to have the best possible life outcomes, research plays a leading role.
Playing our part in funding and supporting research on meningitis
Across the world, projects are underway all year round and we are proud to have played our part in funding, supporting and enabling groundbreaking research projects since we were founded in 1989.
Alongside having invested over £19.5 million in vital scientific research, we also bring together the world’s leading scientific and medical experts at our Meningitis Spotlight Session and biennial conference.
These events are developed with the aim of creating the world’s leading forum for meningitis research, where the latest advances and challenges are explored in depth.
Read our research round-ups
So, to support this aim, we 've started an occasional series that brings together a summary of the latest research findings.
In this first issue you can read about:
- How the vaccine which protects against the type of meningococcal meningitis, called Men B, could also unlock protection against gonorrhoea.
- How protection against pneumococcal meningitis is expanding.
- What antimicrobial resistance could mean for the treatment of bacterial meningitis.
- What could enable improved rapid diagnosis of meningitis.
- Developments in improving healthcare pathways and symptom recognition.
- Progress in understanding the long-term effects of bacterial meningitis.
In this issue you can read about:
- How newer, more cost-effective vaccines like PCV20 could protect more children from meningitis in England.
- How recent research suggests that the true burden of meningitis is underestimated, especially in low-resource settings.
- A trial of a low-cost diagnosis and healthcare package in Brazil, India and Malawi that improved access to testing and faster identification of brain infections.
- The impact of meningococcal disease on families, including ongoing physical, emotional and financial challenges that extend far beyond hospital discharge.
- How TB meningitis cases in children are often missed, leading to preventable deaths and disabilities, and why better tracking and hospital care are urgently needed.