WHO launches global strategy for meningitis

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and partners have launched a new global strategy to combat meningitis.

The Global Roadmap to Defeat Meningitis by 2030 was launched by a broad coalition of partners involved in meningitis prevention and control at a virtual event, hosted by WHO in Geneva. Its focus is on preventing infections and improving care and diagnosis for those affected. 

The organisations involved are hoping to save over 200,000 lives annually and reduce disability caused by meningitis. By 2030, the Roadmap hopes to eliminate epidemics of bacterial meningitis, reduce deaths by 70%, and halve the number of cases.

“Wherever it occurs, meningitis can be deadly and debilitating; it strikes quickly, has serious health, economic and social consequences, and causes devastating outbreaks,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general. “It is time to tackle meningitis globally once and for all –by urgently expanding access to existing tools like vaccines, spearheading new research and innovation to prevent, detecting and treating the various causes of the disease, and improving rehabilitation for those affected.”

Meningitis occurs when membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord become inflamed from a bacterial infection or a virus.

Meningitis that is caused by bacterial infection tends to be the most serious – leading to around 250,000 deaths a year - and can cause fast-spreading epidemics. It kills one in 10 of those infected – mostly children and young people - and leaves one in five with long-lasting disability, such as seizures, hearing and vision loss, neurological damage, and cognitive impairment. 

Over the last 10 years, meningitis epidemics have occurred in all regions of the world, though most commonly in the ‘Meningitis Belt,’ which spans 26 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa. These epidemics are unpredictable, can severely disrupt health systems, and create poverty.

“More than half a billion Africans are at risk of seasonal meningitis outbreaks but the disease has been off the radar for too long,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa. “This shift away from firefighting outbreaks to strategic response can’t come soon enough. This roadmap will help protect the health and lives of hundreds of thousands of families who every year fear this disease.”

Part of the Roadmap’s plan includes the development of new affordable vaccines for meningitis. Whilst there are already several vaccines that protect against the disease, the WHO states that not all communities have access to these vaccines and that many countries are yet to introduce them into their national programmes.

“This roadmap is the embodiment of the ambition of people and families affected around the world who have called for its creation. It's their experience and passion that has driven a whole community of interest to get this far,” said Vinny Smith, chief executive officer of the Meningitis Research Foundation and the Confederation of Meningitis Organisations (CoMO), an international membership organisation of patient advocacy groups for meningitis. “We celebrate together the common goal of defeating meningitis and will be led by their inspiration to make it happen.”

The WHO and its partners will provide support to countries wanting to implement the Roadmap, including through the development of regional and national frameworks.

“Although the main burden of meningitis is in poor countries, acute bacterial meningitis is a global problem with no country being spared its devastating impact,” said professor Sir Brian Greenwood, Professor of Clinical Tropical Medicine at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and co-chair of the Task Force supporting the implementation of the roadmap. “Thus, containing this serious group of infections needs a global response. This is what the roadmap sets out to achieve, bringing together – under the umbrella of WHO – health professionals from across the world to bring this condition under control by 2030.”