Geneva: The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday launched the first-ever global strategy to defeat meningitis — a debilitating disease that kills
Geneva: The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday launched the first-ever global strategy to defeat meningitis — a debilitating disease that kills hundreds of thousands of people each year. The Global Roadmap to Defeat Meningitis by 2030, launched at a virtual event, aims to eliminate epidemics of bacterial meningitis — the most deadly form of the disease — and to reduce deaths by 70 per cent and halve the number of cases. In total, the strategy could save more than 200,000 lives annually and significantly reduce disability caused by the disease by 2030. “Wherever it occurs, meningitis can be deadly and debilitating; it strikes quickly, has serious health, economic and social consequences, and causes devastating outbreaks,” WHO Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in a statement. “It is time to tackle meningitis globally once and for all – by urgently expanding access to existing tools like vaccines, spearheading new research and innovation to prevent, detecting and treating the various causes of the disease, and improving rehabilitation for those affected,” he added.
