Our Chief Executive Jane Plumb MBE attended a high-level three day meeting mid September at the Wellcome Trust, London to discuss the the draft World Health Organisation Global Roadmap for Defeating Meningitis by 2030
The WHO have identified group B Strep as one of the top four causes of bacterial meningitis, and will be leading work internationally to prevent group B Strep infection in motherw and their babies. Group B Strep infects at least 320,000 babies aged 0-90 days each year and meningitis affects more than 5 million people globally each year. While global rates of meningitis have fallen by 53% between 1990 and 2017, this is lower than other vaccine-preventable diseases (70-90%). There is still no vaccine available against group B Strep.
A global roadmap to defeat meningitis by 2030 is being developed by a WHO-led multi-organisation partnership assembled into a Technical Taskforce. Group B Strep Support is part of that Taskforce. The roadmap defines the Vision and Strategic Framework around which future priority efforts with 5 key areas:
- Prevention and Epidemic Control
- Diagnosis and Treatment
- Disease Surveillance
- Support and Care for people affected by meningitis and
- Advocacy and Engagement.
We have worked with the WHO and other stakeholders to shape the draft roadmap and, through our survey earlier this year, shared the views of over 2,500 of our supporters on what they want the WHO to prioritise for group B Strep prevention.
For more informaton, visit the WHO website here.
I was delighted to be invited to attend this meeting and contribute towards shaping the Defeat Meningitis roadmap, particularly with regard to group B Strep.
Jane Plumb
While important progress is being made towards a group B Strep vaccine – which will one day prevent more group B Strep infections than testing or risk-based prevention strategies can – there also needs to be a strategy for the group B Strep infections that can be prevented even before a vaccine is available.
It was good to work with other experts from around the world to help make this a reality.”
