World Meningitis Day Fundraising

Join us in the race to defeat meningitis

Meningitis can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time and is a race against time from the moment the infection strikes. Our vision is a world free of meningitis. We are working towards this by raising awareness of the disease and funding lifesaving research.

To mark World Meningitis Day 2022, more than 200 runners for Meningitis Research Foundation raced to defeat meningitis in the TCS London Marathon. Helping to spread the message by sharing their reasons for running across their social media accounts and with their local media. If you'd like to race to defeat meningitis you can sign up to the TCS London Marathon here. You can read more about the impacts of World Meningitis Day 2022 here.

Support us now in the race to defeat meningitis – together we can beat it.

What is World Meningitis Day and why is awareness raising important?

Globally, bacterial meningitis kills 1 in 10 people who contract it and causes life-long disability for 1 in 5 survivors. Symptoms can be easily confused with other illnesses, like COVID or flu, and the disease progresses rapidly. It can kill within hours or result in life-long complications for those who do survive.

Every year, people from all over the world come together for World Meningitis Day (5th October), to raise awareness of the disease and continuing the Global Road Map to Defeat Meningitis by 2030. Turning the World Health Organization's action plan into reality, could save more than 200,000 lives every year and significantly reduce disabilities caused by meningitis. Countries worldwide have committed to the vision but it’s up to everyone to make that vision a reality. The clock is ticking to make every day to 2030 count and one of the ways we are doing this is through raising awareness. So, let’s come together and make this World Meningitis Day louder their ever.

How can runners support World Meningitis Day?

With London Marathon taking place just three days before World Meningitis Day, we are asking runners for their help to support our awareness-raising campaign, by spreading the word about the disease.

We’d love you to share your reasons for running, raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of the disease and the speed in which it can kill.

Everyone has their own reasons for running. Perhaps a connection to the charity or experience of meningitis which you would feel comfortable sharing to help others? Maybe you’re a seasoned runner marking a milestone marathon or you’re hoping to break a world record. Whatever your reason for choosing to run for MRF we’d love to hear it.

I’d love to support World Meningitis Day how can I share my reason for running?

Great! Click the links below to find out more about the ways we’d love for you to share your story:

How will the money your raise help to defeat meningitis?

Meningitis and neonatal sepsis are the second biggest infectious killers of children under 5. Our vision is a world free of meningitis. The money that you raise will go towards funding life-saving research, raising awareness so that people can spot meningitis signs and symptoms and supporting families that have directly affected by the disease so they don’t have to cope alone.

Feeling inspired? Would you like to know how you can support World Meningitis Day if you're not running in the London Marathon?

If you’d love to play your part in helping to defeat meningitis but running’s not for you, don’t worry, there are plenty of other ways you can support our World Meningitis Day campaign.

Everyone has their reasons for running. Why not share yours across your social media platforms and with your local media?

With your help we can raise lifesaving awareness of this deadly disease and make this year’s World Meningitis Day louder than ever.

Visit our World Meningitis Day homepage for more information