Our Work
As part of Meningitis Research Foundation, CoMO is an international department that coordinates a network of members (organisations and advocates), all united under the aim to defeat meningitis. We run a range of projects and create resources to help us and our members meet our shared goal - these include:
Meningitis advocacy: case-studies (available in English, French and Spanish)
Case-studies have been developed with CoMO members to support patient groups and health organisations. The case-studies share stories of meningitis-related campaigning in different contexts – including Nigeria, Peru, US, and France – sharing tips and approaches and celebrating success. Learn from the creativity and experience of others through these meningitis advocacy case-studies.
Storytelling to drive change (available in English, French and Spanish)
Sharing personal stories has always been an effective way to get audiences to listen and remember information. This guide has been created to explore how to develop a simple health-related storyboard and looks at the practicalities of gathering, capturing and sharing stories while looking after yourself and others. Read through the guide on how to use storytelling to drive change.
Planning for change (available in English, French and Spanish)
This e-learning course will help you identify the change you want to see and the steps you need to make it a reality. This 30 minutes training will allow you to walk away with your own plan that you can use to: help write your strategy, monitor and evaluate the success of your work and more. Learn more about the Planning for change course.
Immunization toolkit: meningitis resources (available in English, French and Spanish)
Ahead of World Immunization Week 2023, we launched a suite of social media resources highlighting the importance of meningitis prevention through vaccination. These resources have been created for use all year round so take action and raise awareness of meningitis with resources adapted for Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. Access our meningitis-specific immunization toolkit.
World Meningitis Day - 5th October
CoMO has been coordinating World Meningitis Day, a online health campaign, every year since 2008. It's an opportunity for CoMO members and partners to come together and raise the global profile of meningitis. We look forward to commemorating the day with you in October!
CoMO organises conferences and events every year so that our members can meet-up, network and attend trainings that align with their priorities. We also share information about events we're involved in, such as Meningitis Research Foundation's annual scientific conference.
Global Roadmap to Defeat Meningitis by 2030
In September 2021, WHO officially launched their Global Roadmap to Defeat Meningitis by 2030. This landmark achievement marks a turning point in meningitis advocacy and we'll be continuing our work while also looking for new opportunities to increase our impact.
CoMO and MRF ran this pilot project (Strengthening Patient Voices) to support three CoMO members (all patient groups) to develop the goals, strategies and skills required to strengthen their effectiveness. While this pilot project has finished, we've scaled up the initiative by launching new resources.
National Immunization Awareness Month
In August 2020, CoMO commemorated National Immunization Awareness Month. While a U.S. campaign, at that time, immunisation rates had fallen due to Covid-19 and so we recognised the need to increase vaccine advocacy as a way of ensuring people are protected from deadly vaccine-preventable diseases like meningitis.
Meningitis can strike anyone at any time. That's why we support initiatives focused on promoting immunisation across the life course, helping to ensure people live longer, healthier lives. This includes our work in Immunisation For All Ages and Coalition for Life Course Immunisation.