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Bruce and Jenni Langoulant, Meningitis Centre, Western Australia
Following our daughter Ashleigh's tragic illness in December 1989, and given our first hand experience Jenni, and I were invited to join a group of parents , medical and health people and researchers to raise the public 's awareness of meningitis, the most dangerous bacterial infection affecting children.
With the advent of the Haemophilus influenzae b (Hib) vaccine being introduced in our state of Western Australia the Institute of Child Health Research sought to start a focus group for meningitis to support its successful lobbying for the vaccine.
From this point it evolved over several months that I would take a lead role in the group and that it be a parent lead organisation. The health and medical professionals knew that parents understood the true impact of meningitis and provided the undeniable emotional connection with the disease.
The Meningitis Centre was launched in April 1992. I was a key spokesperson at the launch and our family (Jenni and Jessica) with Ashleigh was the media focus - and it has remained this way ever since.
Our goal was to inform parents of the early signs and symptoms of this killer disease - early detection pre vaccines was the ONLY protection. We were reading of deaths in the newspaper and needed to give young parents and their defenseless children the heads up! We offered a resource of printed materials - information packs on the facts, the impact and recovering tips. We also created a call centre for support and someone to talk to. All the things we did not have. The big news though was the Hib vaccine! At the time 40% of cases of bacterial meningitis were caused by Hib. Our campaign was titled ' Wipe it Out! ' Vaccinate against Hib and Wipe it Out! It has been extremely successful.
We had begun the fight back!
Our learnings and efforts have been shared with great effect - but it has taken some time and persistence. Today, 18 years later the Meningitis Centre promotes its messages nationally, receives hundreds of contacts daily, contributes to the Asia Pacific region and is a founding member of CoMO. It successfully lobbied the Australian government for the introduction of the pneumococcal vaccine in 2005 and worked in New Zealand to assist with their successful introduction also.
We are firmly based at the Institute for Child Health Research in Perth and we are acknowledged as a significant contributor to its efforts towards improving the health and life prospects and opportunities for children.
Our small group has made, and continues to make a large impact!
Very satisfying.
Bruce and Jenni Langoulant
