Meningitis kills 1 in 10 people, with 50% of those deaths children who are less than 5 years old
The lives of 1 in 5 meningitis who survive meningitis are changed forever.
After effects include brain injury, hearing loss, depression, sight loss, anxiety, limb loss, epilepsy and more.
We need a future free from meningitis, but progress and funding for defeating meningitis lags behind other diseases.
This is why meningitis matters and why we do, what we do
About Meningitis Research Foundation and the Confederation of Meningitis Organizations (CoMO)
Meningitis Research Foundation is a leading international charity, working to defeat meningitis and septicaemia since 1989.
The Confederation of Meningitis Organizations (CoMO) is our global network of patient groups, meningitis advocates and health professionals who operate in more than 50 countries worldwide.
Together we fund and support vital scientific research; campaign and provide information to the public, health professionals and researchers to enable prevention, early diagnosis and treatment; and raise awareness in communities across the world.
Alongside this, we offer individual support to people affected by meningitis and septicaemia, whether they are living with a disability or are coping with the death of a loved one.
About World Meningitis Day
Meningitis can affect anyone, anywhere, at any time.
Despite being largely vaccine-preventable, progress to defeat meningitis is behind that of other infectious diseases. Compounded with the prevalence and severity of meningitis, along with the speed in which it develops, calls for a global outcry.
If we work together, we can see meningitis defeated in many of our lifetimes.
World Meningitis Day is the annual moment to unite and help save lives.
Every year since 2009, CoMO (now a part of the Meningitis Research Foundation) has been bringing together a global community of people affected by meningitis; to reach people with no knowledge of the disease; and to ensure no one learns about it for the first time when they are seriously ill with meningitis in hospital.
The World Meningitis Day campaign, which initially began with CoMO members holding events in five countries, has now grown to people in 106 countries across the world coming together to take action.
Join us and let’s defeat meningitis together
#DefeatMeningitis #WorldMeningitisDay
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Every year, World Meningitis Day brings together people from all over the world to highlight the need to raise awareness of meningitis, its signs and symptoms, the vaccines that are available, and that it is an infection that needs global attention and effort to be defeated.
Meningitis Research Foundation is an international charity which began in the UK in 1989. We’ve been working to defeat meningitis and septicaemia wherever they exist for over 30 years. The Confederation of Meningitis Organizations (CoMO) is our global network of patient groups, meningitis advocates, and health professionals. They work to reduce the incidence and impact of meningitis in more than 50 countries.
#DefeatMeningitis #WorldMeningitisDay
© Confederation of Meningitis Organisations and Meningitis Research Foundation, 2023
A charity registered in England and Wales no 1091105, in Scotland no SC037586, & in Ireland 20034368
A company limited by guarantee, registered in England no 4367866
Registered Office: Room 715, The Programme Building 7th Floor, The Pithay, Bristol BS1 2NB