In 2023, we were delighted to welcome two new CoMO members onto our Advisory Council as representatives of the Americas: John B. Grimes, a meningitis survivor, podcaster, writer and Friend of CoMO from Texas, USA; and the Brazilian Association to Combat Meningitis (ABCM), represented by their president Suelen Caroline Santiago Magalhães Rosalino and director of organisational relationships and projects Antonio Carlos Ramos e Silva.   John is the first meningitis survivor, and ABCM the first member from South America, to be part of our Advisory Council – just two of the many reasons we wer ..read more

The 26th April 2024 marks a major milestone in the journey to tackle the devastating impacts of meningitis. Held at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, this will be WHO’s first high-level meeting to defeat meningitis. The event will be hosted by the French government and will be a global call to action to boost commitments towards defeating meningitis by 2030. The high-level meeting will also see the much-anticipated launch of the WHO’s investment case for meningitis. This is the first time a price-tag has been put on how much new funding it will take to defeat meningitis. Without the money set ou ..read more

In 2023, CoMO’s advisory council members and regional coordinators worked together to guide the creation of the Meningitis Flag, alongside textile designer Laura Spring, para-athletes Théo Currin, Ellie Challis and Davide Morana, Meningitis Research Foundation colleagues and the communications team at global pharmaceutical company Sanofi.   The work of CoMO’s advisory council members and regional coordinators has ensured the flag can be a global symbol that represents the ambitious movement that wants to see meningitis defeated all over the wor ..read more

World Meningitis Day (5 October) is a landmark day in the CoMO calendar. It represents the biggest opportunity we have each year to make our joint endeavour to defeat meningitis a high priority for relevant decision-makers. Pioneered in 2008 by CoMO members, today it has grown into a global movement that brings together people from all over the world. In 2023, people and organisations in 126 countries took action to mark the day, making it the farthest-reaching year so far. Several years ago, we created the World Meningitis Day working group – a place where CoMO members contribute to the ..read more

Sam Nye, Joint Head of CoMO It’s already February 2024. That means a very exciting milestone for CoMO. This year is 20 years since meningitis organisations and advocates from around the world came together and agreed to create a global network to defeat meningitis.   We’ve come a very long way since then. We’ve moved our headquarters from Australia to the UK, we’ve played a key role in the WHO Global Road Map to Defeat Meningitis by 2030 and it’s three years since we became part of Meningitis Research Foundation.   We’ve got lots of plans for our 20th year, so here’s what’s ahead. Gr ..read more

A message from our Chief Executive, Vinny Smith     In November 2023, I celebrated my 8-year anniversary with Meningitis Research Foundation (where has that time gone?) and I honestly can’t remember a year with so much packed into it. There is so much to be thankful for.     On 5th October, World Meningitis Day exceeded all our hopes and expectations, securing activity in 126 countries and seeing our wonderful Confederation of Meningitis Organisation (CoMO) members and Meningitis Research Foundation Ambassador ..read more

Dr. Jeannière Manegabe works as a paediatrician at Panzi General Hospital, located in Bukavu, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as a research assistant and lecturer at The Evangelical University in Africa (Bukavu). Her focus lies primarily in infectious diseases among children, with recent research delving into the mortality factors associated with meningitis, etiologies of meningitis, and touching on topics including antibiotic resistance. Having joined the Confederation of Meningitis Organisations (CoMO) in 2021, this November she was awarded a bursary funded by the Bi ..read more

Omorodion Rhoda Omoile reflects on her experience engaging with the Global Road Map to Defeat Meningitis by 2030 Omorodion Rhoda is a patient advocate and social entrepreneur based in Nigeria. Her organisation, Care and Development Centre (CADEC) is dedicated to raising awareness about meningitis and advocating for better aftercare and support for people living with sequelae caused by the disease. Rhoda is also the Africa Regional Coordinator for the Confederation of Meningitis Organisations (CoMO). In this role, she supports regional members and shares opportunities. In this guest blog post ..read more

5 October is the biggest date in the calendar for CoMO. It is the annual moment to bring the cause we all care about so deeply to public and political attention. Each year, we want to get people everywhere talking about why defeating meningitis matters, both on a global level and within countries. In 2023, we asked people all over the world to participate in three main ways: sharing information from our toolkit, sharing their personal meningitis stories, and taking a photo of something illuminated to mark the occasion. However, on top of taking part in these actions, CoMO members from around t ..read more

World Meningitis Day is coming soon on 5 October 2023. One of our most accessible actions this year is Light The Road Ahead - illuminate something, then share a photo of it at 20:30 on 5 October (read more here). To make it easier for you to participate, we are providing some suggested wording for your Light The Road Ahead social media posts. If you have time, it is always more engaging to write your own captions, or edit our suggestions to make them more personalised. But if you don't have time for that, feel free to copy and paste any of these. Encouraging others to take part in the run-up t ..read more