WHO partners with MRF to work on meningitis

At a global meeting of experts organised by Meningitis Research Foundation (MRF) and Wilton Park, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a renewed effort to help defeat meningitis.

The meeting highlighted the urgent need for a global meningitis vision and strategy. WHO recognised its key role in meningitis prevention over the last decade and announced plans to bring together global expertise to develop a roadmap for eliminating meningitis epidemics from the ‘meningitis belt’ in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.

The intent is to also work with partners, including MRF, in a bid to extend the scope to other countries around the world, and to help tackle the many different causes of meningitis.

WHO representatives will be putting meningitis high on the global agenda and coordinating progress in five areas. The focus would be to work on eliminating epidemic meningitis from the meningitis belt and examining the potential for a more global agenda as identified by the meeting.

1. Specifically it will focus on ensuring long-term protection against MenA for the entire at-risk population in the meningitis belt, building on the success of recent vaccination campaigns.

2. The focus would also be on improving outbreak response and control of meningococcal epidemics in the meningitis belt, as well as management of patients and survivors.

3. Disease surveillance in the meningitis belt will be enhanced. 

4. Development and public health use of affordable vaccines will be promoted that tackle different causes of meningitis in the meningitis belt.

5. Meningitis expertise will be called for to address globally the many different causes of meningitis around the world.