Meningitis

Context:

The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched the first-ever global strategy to defeat meningitis – ‘Global Roadmap to Defeat Meningitis by 2030’.

About Meningitis global strategy :

• The strategy, the Global Roadmap to Defeat Meningitis by 2030, aims to prevent infections and improve care and diagnosis for those affected.
• It also aims to eliminate epidemics of bacterial meningitis — the deadliest form of the disease — and to reduce deaths by 70 per cent and halve the number of cases.
• The strategy could save more than 200,000 lives annually and significantly reduce the disability caused by the disease.

Aims and Objectives 

• Achievement of high immunisation coverage, development of new affordable vaccines and improved prevention strategies and outbreak response
• Speedy diagnosis and optimal treatment for patients
• Good data to guide prevention and control efforts
• Care and support for those affected, focusing on early recognition and improved access to care and support for after-effects
• Advocacy and engagement, to ensure high awareness of meningitis, accountability for national plans, and affirmation of the right to prevention, care and after-care services.

Meningitis:

• About: Meningitis is an inflammation (swelling) of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord.
  • It is predominantly caused by bacterial and viral infection. However, injuries, cancer, certain drugs, and other types of infections also can cause meningitis.
• Symptoms: Severe headache that seems different from normal, Sudden high fever, Stiff neck, Confusion or difficulty concentrating, etc.
• Transmission: Most bacteria that cause meningitis such as meningococcus, pneumococcus and Haemophilus influenzae are carried in the human nose and throat.
  • They spread from person to person by respiratory droplets or throat secretions.
  • Group B streptococcus (bacteria) is often spread from mother to child around the time of birth.
• Impact: Meningitis is fatal and debilitating, striking fast with serious health, economic and social consequences, including life-long disabilities, and affecting people of all ages in all countries.
  • Meningitis caused by bacterial infection causes around 2,50,000 deaths a year and can lead to fast-spreading epidemics.
  • It kills a tenth of those infected, mostly children and young people and leaves a fifth with long-lasting disability, such as seizures, hearing and vision loss, neurological damage, and cognitive impairment.
• Spread: Meningitis epidemics have occurred in the last decade in all regions of the world. But it is most common in the ‘Meningitis Belt,’ which spans 26 countries across sub-Saharan Africa.
• Available Vaccines: Meningococcal, Haemophilus influenzae type b and Pneumococcal vaccines.
• Treatment: A range of antibiotics is used to treat meningitis, including penicillin, ampicillin, and ceftriaxone.

Priorities of the global roadmap

• Achievement of high immunization coverage, development of new affordable vaccines, and improved prevention strategies and outbreak response;
• Speedy diagnosis and optimal treatment for patients;
• Good data to guide prevention and control efforts;
• Care and support for those affected, focusing on early recognition and improved access to care and support for after-effects, and
• Advocacy and engagement, to ensure high awareness of meningitis, accountability for national plans, and affirmation of the right to prevention, care and after-care services.

Source: Down To Earth

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