World Meningitis Day helps to raise awareness about meningitis – a potentially deadly disease that can kill in a matter of hours or cause lifelong disability.
Meningitis continues to be a major global public health issue causing up to 5 million cases each year, including epidemics of new strains that spread between countries and across the world.
In November 2020, the Seventy-Third World Health Assembly approved the first ever resolution on meningitis prevention and control and the Defeating meningitis by 2030 global road map. WHO supports efforts to #DefeatMeningitis in light of this new global strategy that aims to eliminate bacterial meningitis epidemics and reduce deaths and disability from the disease.
What you should know
- Meningitis can strike everyone and at all ages – it can be fatal within a few hours and cause lifelong disability.
- Meningitis epidemics can happen fast with serious health, economic and social consequences.
- Meningitis is a medical emergency and must be treated quickly.
- Symptoms of meningitis can include:
- Stiff neck
- Fever
- Sensitivity to light
- confusion and drowsiness
- headaches
- vomiting
- rash
- seizures
- Not everyone will get all of these symptoms and they can occur in any order.
- Vaccination against meningococcus, pneumococcus and Haemophilus influenzae type b protect against common causes of meningitis. New vaccines will save more lives over the next decade.
- Meningitis is one of the leading causes of neurological disability, which can last a lifetime – the Defeating Meningitis by 2030 global road map addresses this issue alongside prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
- By 2030, countries have committed to:
◦ eliminating bacterial meningitis epidemics;
◦ reducing cases of vaccine-preventable bacterial meningitis by 50% and deaths by 70%;
◦ reducing disability and improving the quality of life for meningitis survivors.
Source: Text: https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2021/04/24/default-calendar/world-meningitis-day Image: https://metrohealthhmo.com/world-meningitis-day/