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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/