World Meningitis Day 2012

On Tuesday 24 April 2012, the Confederation of Meningitis Organisations (CoMO) and its global members are encouraging individuals, families and communities to learn the signs and symptoms of meningitis, the importance of urgent treatment of the disease, and that prevention is available through vaccination against some forms of meningitis as part of its fourth annual World Meningitis Day.

Our goal is to stop meningitis worldwide. You can help us achieve this by doing four simple things in support of World Meningitis Day 2012:

• View our video "If I'd Known Then What I Know Now" and share it with your family and friends.
• Be part of a global movement to stop meningitis – Join Hands Against Meningitis with people around the world to show your support for meningitis awareness and prevention and to help save lives. Show your support and help us to join 1 million hands against meningitis between now and World Meningitis Day 2013. Please encourage your family and friends to raise global awareness of meningitis so that together we can stop it worldwide.
• Visit our list of local member organisations to see if there is a World Meningitis Day event in your country that you can attend and support.
• Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to have your say about why it's vital that the global community knows about meningitis and why we must work together to stop it.

Media Materials to support World Meningitis Day are also available below.

World Meningitis Day 2012 is proudly sponsored by Novartis and Pfizer.             

What you need to know about meningitis

• Each year hundreds of thousands of people around the world die from meningitis, or suffer life-long disabilities.
• Bacterial meningitis, which is the most severe and common form, causes around 170,000 deaths globally every year.
• Those surviving meningitis can have their lives devastated as a result of long-term effects, such as deafness, brain damage, and limb-loss.
• While the disease can affect people of all ages, infants, children and adolescents are at an increased risk of infection.
• Meningitis is not easy to recognise in the early stages, and symptoms can be similar to those of the common flu.
• The main symptoms to look out for are fever, vomiting, headache, stiff neck, sensitivity to light, drowsiness, muscle and leg pain.*
• Many people do not know the warning signs of infection or that many types of meningitis are vaccine-preventable.

*The signs and symptoms of meningitis listed above do not necessarily include every possible sign and symptom. They do not appear in a specific order and some may not appear at all. Please consult your local healthcare professional to check the signs and symptoms most prevalent in your country. 

Please see our Global Meningitis Disease Fact Sheet for further information.