World Meningitis Day 2021
Member Activities
CoMO members from our three regions, Europe Africa, Americas and Asia Pacific, reached millions with life-saving information on meningitis. Meningitis remains a huge global health challenge but the Roadmap aims to drastically change this over the next nine years. Without patient advocates and groups, we cannot #DefeatMeningitis.
Below is a snippet of what CoMO members got up to on #WorldMeningitisDay.
Sarah Joyce, founder of The Sarah Joyce Project, used CoMO's call to action letter to great effect, sending it to The Hon. Brad Hazzard MP Minister for Health and Medical Research and calling on him to recognise World Meningitis Day. As a result, Sarah received a letter from Mr Hazzard and he also attended Sarah's High Tea event, attended by 70 people. They fundraised for Meningitis Centre Australia and played CoMO's World Meningitis Day video. All audience members were given brochures on meningococcal vaccines and the signs and symptoms of meningitis.
NSW (New South Wales) Health Department also recognised World Meningitis Day for the first time ever thanks to Sarah's advocacy, adding it to their calendars.
The Meningitis B Action Project was interviewed on 25 radio stations, reaching over 44 million listeners across the country! They also inspired a team of advocates to take action to #DefeatMeningitis in 26 states.
Alicia Stillman (Emily Stillman Foundation) was busy speaking to radio stations across the country on World Meningitis Day.
Patti Wukovits (Kimberly Coffey Foundation) was busy speaking to radio stations across the country on World Meningitis Day.
The team published a World Meningitis Day message (above).
The incredible team in Turkey reached thousands through a range of creative activities, including:
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A webinar with meningitis experts and including sessions on: the evolution of meningitis vaccines; meningitis diagnosis and management; meningitis facts and symptoms.
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2 radio features, talking about meningitis facts and symptoms.
An Instagram live event to reach people with important information on meningitis.
Webinar featuring meningitis experts.
An Instagram live event to reach people with important information on meningitis.
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Being featured in a national newspaper article - Hurriyet.
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Ege University Medical Faculty produced a live broadcast.
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2 videos were released and were watched 13K times.
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Reached out and successfully encouraged 17 doctors, 6 student clubs, 1 journalist, and 5 charities to share CoMO infographics with information on meningitis.
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Published a blog post
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2,000 coloring book were published, including cartoons about meningitis. These were given to kids through 7 different charities and sent to 4 influencers
Meningokockfonden built new partnerships and reached thousands of people. They:
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Talked to a sepsis foundation - Sepsisfonden - who published Mathias' story.
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MediCheck, a website through which people can meet specialist physicians, published a post in honour of World Meningitis Day.
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Christine appeared on a popular TV program with a doctor to raise awareness of the disease, with an estimated 50,000+ viewers. You can watch the feature (in Swedish) above.
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Sold burgundy ribbons in a local grocery store.
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Reached >147,000 people on Facebook and >48,000 on Instagram.
For World Meningitis Day and World Immunisation Week, CHEP launched a video (to the left) with a powerful call to action, calling for public and policymaker support to take action to defeat meningitis and create robust healthcare systems.
On World Meningitis Day, CHEP also spoke to religious leaders about the importance of raising awareness of meningitis.
Engaging with religious leaders.
Awareness-raising event
Engaging with religious leaders.
Japan Child Meningitis Organisation organised a social media campaign and held a popular online event, reaching almost 400 viewers. You can watch it, in Japanese, to the right.
日本の会員は、髄膜炎についてもっと学ぶことができるオンラインイベントを開催しました。
In Spain, Asociación Española Contra la Meningitis (AEM), held lots of activities, reaching children, healthcare workers, schools, advocates and politicians. Below are just some of the activities they did to support the campaign:
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On World Meningitis Day, 80 monuments, town halls and fountains were lit up in green.
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They launched a children's book, Valentina Superheroína, to share how vaccines can help defeat diseases. Here's a video version (Spanish).
80 monuments, town halls and fountains were illuminated in green, to raise awareness of meningitis.
AEM collaborated with an artist in Turkey to create these powerful images about why we must take action to #DefeatMeningitis.
80 monuments, town halls and fountains were illuminated in green, to raise awareness of meningitis.
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They held a virtual event #ArribaLaVida (in Spanish)
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Held an Instagram Live event with #FFPaciente and two meningitis survivors.
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Collaborated with a school, CEIP San Gil (Cuellar - Segovia), who raised awareness, with one of their students, Lucía, making this video.
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Launched an exhibition on The Faces of Meningitis at Vithas La Milagrosa. Watch a video of the event.
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Collaborated with a cartoonist (Instagram: @berkanspen).
In Nigeria, Omorodion Rhoda of CADEC was featured in a radio talk show (Nig. Info 92.3 FM Port-Harcourt) and spoke extensively about the need to know the signs and symptoms and for mothers to immunise their babies against meningitis.
Omorodion Rhoda was featured in our World Meningitis Day Toolkit, follow the link to download her testimonial tiles to share it on social media.
Omorodion Rhoda was featured in a radio talk show.
Omorodion Rhoda was featured in our World Meningitis Day Toolkit, follow the link to download her testimonial tiles to share it on social media.
Jamie was featured in our World Meningitis Day video and we released an extended cut of her footage, where she calls on everyone to "prevent what's preventable".
Like other members, Meningitis Foundation Aotearoa New Zealand, held a social media campaign throughout April which helped them reach more people with information of meningitis - leading to a 10% increase in followers.
They also launched a 2025 Goal to achieve the vaccination of all 16 year olds (before leaving school) throughout New Zealand. To support this campaign they are developing their website to outline their plans and intent to petition the government.
New families have connected with the organisation to share their stories and support their work. You can download testimonial tiles here.
The Meningitis Foundation of Canada had the CN Tower in Toronto fill the night sky with the colours of their logo to promote meningitis awareness and prevention and sent out a media release.
A huge thanks to all of our members for sharing life-saving information with their communities.
Together we reached millions of people worldwide!
Are you interested in joining a global network of individuals and organisations working to #DefeatMeningitis? Learn about becoming a member or get in touch.