MRF supports World Pneumonia Day

02 November 2009

Meningitis Research Foundation welcomes the first international World Pneumonia Day on 2 November aiming to raise awareness of disease caused by pneumococcal and Hib bacteria, major causes of meningitis and pneumonia affecting millions of people worldwide.

Pneumococcal disease and Hib kill 1.2 million children under five worldwide every year. There are vaccines against Hib and some strains of pneumococcal disease, but until recently these have not been available in developing countries, where the burden of disease is the greatest.

Hib disease was once the leading cause of childhood meningitis in the UK. Since the introduction of Hib vaccine in 1992 it has virtually disappeared. The introduction of pneumococcal vaccine in 2006 has also nearly eliminated the 7 strains covered by the vaccine in children immunised.

Chris Head, MRF Chief Executive, commented: “Vaccines have had an incredible impact on dangerous diseases such as meningitis in the UK and the rest of the industrialised world. It is heartening to see Hib disease at last is being tackled in countries where the problem is worst, twenty years after the successful virtual elimination of Hib in Europe.

“Meningitis Research Foundation is greatly encouraged by initiatives to provide these life-saving vaccines to developing countries but would also like to see more investment into funding research to tackle strains which vaccines cannot yet prevent.”

World Pneumonia Day is a global effort to mobilize activists and encourage donors and governments to pay more attention to – and make an investment in – efforts to combat this disease.